Multiple public funds submit applications for agricultural-themed ETFs in quick succession

Securities Times reporter Zhao Mengqiao

Recently, multiple fund companies have submitted in batches agriculture-themed ETFs such as those focused on grain and livestock breeding.

On March 31, Ping An Fund filed the Ping An CSI Agriculture Theme Index Initiation-Style Fund. On March 27 and March 26, the funds under Bosera Allianz Asset Management and Fullgoal Fund, respectively, submitted their CSI Grain Industry ETF applications. Just within March alone, a total of more than 10 ETFs were filed, with directions concentrated in sub-sectors such as grains and livestock breeding. A fund manager noted that the recent concentrated filings of related ETFs reflect the institutions’ relatively consistent judgment formed from the sector’s fundamentals and policy catalysts. They believe these ETFs have mid- to long-term allocation value, and institutions are moving early to seize the layout window.

In the secondary market, the scale of the relevant thematic ETFs has risen almost across the board since the beginning of the year. The Fullgoal CSI Agriculture Theme ETF added more than 1.08B units, the Penghua CSI Grain Industry ETF increased by more than 985 million units. In addition, the Invesco Great Wall Agriculture, Livestock and Fishery ETF and the T Sum CSI Agriculture Theme ETF increased by more than 739 million units and 639 million units, respectively. Furthermore, in the context of overseas geopolitical turmoil from late February to mid-March, the A-share agriculture sector maintained strength, with multiple ETFs recording gains of more than 10% within their ranges, becoming a haven for funds to flow into.

Multiple public fund companies said that the main driver for the agriculture sector leading gains comes primarily from the fertilizer sector. Its strong performance is the result of the three factors—seasonal demand, cost push, and geopolitics—converging.

Bosera Fund said that since the 2026 Spring Festival falls later, March has officially entered the peak period of spring farming preparation and procurement, directly boosting demand for fertilizers and pesticides, supporting product prices and corporate earnings. Meanwhile, Middle East geopolitical conflicts cause fluctuations in oil and gas resource prices, raising production costs for high-energy-consumption fertilizers such as nitrogen fertilizers. Market trading follows the transmission chain of energy—chemicals—agricultural inputs, and a cost-support-driven price increase logic has been established. In addition, sub-sectors such as phosphate chemical industry are shifting from a pure cyclical logic toward a “resources + growth” logic. The value re-assessment of certain products with strategic resource attributes, such as phosphate rock, under a backdrop of geopolitical security, is driving the sector’s valuation reconfiguration.

Invesco Great Wall Fund said that agricultural products (000061) are also a key focus of this round of “anti-overcompetition” attention. With the pig, aquatic products, and grain industries all responding to policy calls and actively reducing capacity, agricultural product supply is expected to be optimized, thereby pushing corporate earnings to recover.

Bosera Fund’s analysis is that, as a relatively broad concept, the current agriculture sector shows clearly differentiated logic across the fundamental outlooks of its key sub-sectors:

In the seeds sector, policy guidance and technological change are the main driving forces. The 2026 No. 1 Central Document continues to strengthen food security and explicitly proposes advancing the industrialization of biotech breeding. Bosera Fund believes that the policy top-level design has shifted from stabilizing production to increasing yields per unit area, and the commercialization of biotech breeding is accelerating. Grain prices may fluctuate in the short term, but mid-term prices are supported by expectations of global liquidity loosening and inventory destocking. Leading seed companies, backed by technology barriers, are expected to realize performance delivery through market-share gains in the industry reshuffle.

The fertilizer and pesticide sectors are expected to continue maintaining a tight supply-demand balance pattern. In the near term, phosphate fertilizer prices have held at high levels, providing earnings security for companies, and the cost-support logic remains strengthened.

The livestock breeding sector is in a typical “left-side” positioning phase. China’s hog breeding industry is currently at a stage of “losses grinding out the bottom,” with hog prices around 12 yuan—13 yuan/kg, below the cost line of about 14 yuan/kg. Persistent losses combined with policy guidance are making the capacity reduction trend increasingly clear. The core of market trading lies in the expectation that “capacity reduction will lead to future supply contraction.” As the number of sows capable of breeding approaches the policy target, the certainty of the cycle reversal is accumulating. The sector has excellent defensive and counterattack characteristics.

(Editor: Li Yue)

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