In early summer, as one enters the deep blue sea from Rizhao, Shandong, at 10 nautical miles offshore, the largest fully submerged deep-sea salmon farming cage in the country is teeming with fat salmon ready to leap onto the dining table. Supported by CIB's marine ranch project loan, the first phase of the salmon industry Sci-tech innovation base project is under intensive construction. This includes 6 truss-type deep-water cages and a deep processing plant. The integration of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in marine farming is turning the blue territory into a "new granary."
What matters to a country is people, what matters to the people is food. General Secretary Xi Jinping creatively proposed and explored the concept of the Greater Food View during his tenure in Fujian. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out the importance of establishing the Greater Food View, developing facility agriculture, and constructing a diversified food supply system.
As a domestically systemically important bank rooted in Fujian, CIB has always kept in mind the "major national concerns." Actively practicing the Greater Food View, CIB focuses on regional resource endowments, continuously enhances and optimizes financial supply, and concentrates on the "production-supply-sales" chain. By leveraging the resources of both “mountains and seas”, CIB creates a unique financial service model to provide strong financial support for the construction of a diversified food supply system. As of the end of 2023, CIB's agricultural loan balance exceeded 660 billion RMB, an increase of over 20% since the beginning of the year.
Relying on the Mountains, Thus Singing Mountain Songs
"Spring bamboo shoots define the pinnacle of fresh flavors." Located in northern Fujian, Jian'ou is one of China's top ten bamboo towns and the "Capital of Bamboo Shoots and Bamboo" in China, leading the nation in the number of standing bamboos, bamboo timber production, and fresh bamboo shoot production. The vast bamboo sea produces fresh bamboo shoots all year round, turning these small bamboo shoots scattered across the mountains into "golden nuggets" for rural revitalization.
Entering the production workshop of Fujian Mingliang Food Co., Ltd., hundreds of workers are busy cutting, weighing, and fermenting freshly unearthed bamboo shoots...As a company that has been deeply involved in the production and sales of bamboo shoots, vegetables, and other agricultural products in Jian'ou for nearly 20 years, Mingliang Food is closely following market trends. In response to the fast-paced lifestyles of young people, the company has developed ready-to-eat products, which have gained popularity among young consumers.
With the increasing market demand, the company urgently needed funds to upgrade its production equipment and enhance the level of mechanized and automated production. Upon learning of the situation, a financial delegate from CIB’s Nanping branch promptly provided on-site services, delivering financial support “just in time”. Since 2023, CIB's Nanping branch has issued loans totaling nearly 300 million RMB to the bamboo shoot industry, nourishing the bamboo shoot industry with financial resources and helping it thrive.
Vast forests are not only natural "reservoirs" and "carbon sinks" but also enormous "granaries." Currently, China's forest coverage rate is 24.02%. The abundant forest resources provide various types of food materials and are an important part of the diversified food supply system. CIB focuses on the industrialization of ecological resources and the ecologicalization of industries, promoting the integrated development of Green Banking, digital CIB, and CIB Inclusive Finance. By opening the channels for converting ecological resources of “Two Mountains” into industrial advantages, CIB transforms the advantages of forest resources into industrial advantages, achieving a "green and prosperous win-win" situation.
When the air is rich with tea's scent; you know you've reached Anxi. In Anxi, the birthplace of Tieguanyin tea, from high mountain tea gardens to wholesale markets, a single leaf and a cup of tea drive an industry and enrich the local people. "Using satellite remote sensing technology not only gives us a 'clairvoyant' view, allowing precise monitoring of the tea gardens, but also gives us confidence and helps the bank to be well-informed, speeding up loan disbursement!" said a tea company executive.
In December 2022, CIB launched a satellite remote sensing application system. By leveraging satellite remote sensing technology, CIB empowers various scenarios such as agriculture and forestry carbon sinks, addressing traditional agricultural financing issues like lack of collateral and difficulty in asset valuation. This initiative explores the creation of the "digital CIB" model for financial services in rural revitalization. Supported by satellite remote sensing technology, CIB’s Quanzhou branch, using the "planting flow" model, has established crop planting profiles. This adds a reliable data source for the risk assessment of agricultural financing of “Sannong” customers, providing technological support for precise credit extension to the planting industry. As of the end of April 2024, the branch had mapped over 7,600 mu of tea gardens and issued loans amounting to nearly 64 million RMB.
In Bozhou, Anhui, the planting scale of pecans has been increasing year by year, becoming a "money tree" for income increase and wealth, as well as an "oil tree" ensuring grain and oil security, bringing substantial benefits to forest farmers and enterprises.
"We have always wanted to expand our scale, but we couldn't get loans due to a lack of collateral. When we met CIB's Hefei branch, they innovatively used forest tenure certificates as collateral and granted us a forest tenure mortgage loan of 4 million RMB," said an executive from a company engaged in the planting, processing, and sales of pecans. The forest tenure mortgage loan not only revitalized rural forestry resources, turning resources into assets and assets into capital but also actively practiced the reform of the forest tenure system.
Relying on the Sea, Thus Leveraging Marine Resources
Every year before the Lunar New Year, fishing boats of crab farmers dot Yangcheng Lake. "It’s the same every year. After the Spring Festival, we start the new year's stocking, and by autumn, we harvest a new batch!" said a local aquaculture farmer.
Jiangsu Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crab Co., Ltd. is a leading agricultural enterprise in Suzhou, specializing in the breeding, farming, procurement, and sales of Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs. In recent years, with business expansion and increased sales, the company needed to expand its sales platform channels, creating a demand for funding in its production and operations.
CIB Suzhou Branch has conducted in-depth research, visiting large-scale enterprises, small farmers, and aquaculture sites, and consulting with experts. By focusing on product design, service models, guarantee methods, professional teams, and risk control, CIB has innovatively developed exclusive loan products for crab enterprises and farmers in the Suzhou area. Currently, CIB Suzhou Branch has issued nearly 200 million RMB in loans related to the hairy crab industry.
China boasts an 18,000-kilometer coastline and numerous freshwater lakes and river resources. In 2023, the total aquatic product output in China reached 71 million tons. CIB adapts to local conditions, focusing on the financing difficulties in the aquatic farming and aquaculture industries, innovating financial products, and helping to build "water granaries."
Despite being the furthest inland province, Xinjiang has become a “major player in aquaculture”. "We have been farming salmon in the Hot Spring Reservoir and Jilintai Reservoir in the Ili River Basin for 8 years," said a representative from Xinjiang Sanwen Fishery Co., Ltd. The caretakers of these salmon farming bases are local Kazakh herdsmen. The establishment of the farming base has provided the herdsmen with long-term stable employment, allowing them to transition from a nomadic lifestyle to a more settled existence.
The increase in salmon production and income in Xinjiang relies not only on the unique geographical environment but also on the “flexible” financial support provided by CIB. In recent years, due to market conditions, there have been challenges in salmon transportation and sales, resulting in extended repayment periods and difficulties in cash flow for Xinjiang Sanwen Fishery Co., Ltd. "CIB formed a team, traveled over 300 kilometers, and came to the site to offer solutions. They provided an initial loan of 70 million RMB with a total credit line, using biological assets, inventory, and water surface operating rights as floating collateral, which helped us resolve major issues," said the company representative with gratitude.
Smoothing the “Financial Path” for Facility Agriculture
Entering Shouguang, Shandong, one is greeted by vast stretches of vegetable greenhouses. In recent years, Shouguang has embarked on the modernization of its agricultural industry, becoming the "vegetable basket" for people nationwide. Currently, the vegetable planting area in Shouguang has expanded to 600,000 mu, with an annual output of 4.5 million tons of greenhouse vegetables. Additionally, Shouguang has established the largest vegetable wholesale market and production area trading market in the country, forming an integrated production, procurement, and sales operation model, making it a typical representative of facility agriculture in China.
Securing the "vegetable basket" requires smoothing the financial path. CIB Jinan Branch is deepening its "regional + industry" operations, promoting the deep integration of the financial and industrial chains. On one hand, it supports the construction of vegetable planting infrastructure by providing a 350 million RMB project loan to Shouguang Port Investment Industrial Park Operation Management Group Co., Ltd., benefiting 600 high-standard vegetable greenhouses and over 500 farming households in Shouguang. On the other hand, it has created exclusive loan products for vegetable farmers, effectively addressing their funding needs for rebuilding, expanding greenhouses, and purchasing raw materials.
"At the community service center, CIB has a service point where we can apply for credit loans. I went there with a tentative mindset, and the customer manager guided me to apply on my phone. I quickly got approved for a 500,000 RMB loan!" said Li Yancheng, a vegetable grower from Dongzhenguan Village in Shouguang City. As a young entrepreneur who returned to his hometown to grow colored peppers, he was one of the first beneficiaries of CIB's exclusive loan product for vegetable farmers. Currently, this product has served over 1,000 customers, with loan amounts totaling nearly 300 million RMB.
In Xiamen, since November last year, Xiamen LTS Food Freezing Co., Ltd. entered the peak season for vegetable processing exports and faced a shortfall in working capital. Upon learning of the company's difficulties, CIB Xiamen Branch promptly visited the production workshop to understand the situation. Leveraging the "Xiamen SME Credit Enhancement Fund" policy, they provided a comprehensive financing solution with a credit limit of 10 million RMB, helping the company overcome its capital turnover bottleneck and ensuring the smooth processing of vegetables.
China is a major player in facility agriculture, with over 80% of the world's facility agriculture area. Focusing on the transformation and upgrading of facility agriculture, CIB leverages its advantages in Fintech to integrate modern information technologies such as big data, IoT, and AI with the agricultural industry chain, building smart agriculture.
CIB's launch of the digital supervision platform for biological assets is a vivid practice in supporting the development of smart agriculture. Through "IoT + blockchain + AI technology," CIB achieves intelligent inventory checks of different biological species and farming scenarios, empowering post-loan management with digital means. This has led to the creation of biological asset mortgage financing products, solving the financing difficulties and high costs faced by farming enterprises. Recently, CIB officially launched version 3.0, further reducing the costs and time associated with deploying supervision equipment, resulting in over 1.1 billion RMB in loans for biological asset mortgages.