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

Securities Times reporter Zhao Mengqiao

In recent days, multiple fund management companies have submitted an unusually concentrated number of ETF filings focused on agriculture themes such as grain and livestock breeding.

On March 31, Ping An Fund filed for the Ping An CSI Agricultural Thematic Index Initiation Fund. On March 27 and March 26, respectively, BOCM Schroder Bianing Fund and Fund Galaxy Fund under the same names submitted filings for the National Securities Food Industry ETF. Only within March, there were a total of more than 10 ETF filings, with their direction concentrated in agriculture sub-sectors such as grain and livestock breeding. A fund manager noted that the recent concentrated filings of related ETFs reflect a relatively consistent view by institutions formed based on the sector’s fundamentals and policy catalysts. They believe it has medium- to long-term allocation value, and they are moving early to seize the deployment window.

On the secondary market side, the size of the relevant thematic ETFs has nearly all risen since the beginning of the year. The number of units of the Fund Galaxy CSI Agricultural Thematic ETF increased by more than 1.082 billion units, the Penghua National Securities Food Industry ETF increased by more than 985 million units, and in addition, the Invesco Great Wall Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fishery ETF and the Tianhong CSI Agricultural Thematic ETF increased by more than 739 million units and 639 million units, respectively. Moreover, from late February to mid-March amid overseas geopolitical turmoil, the A-share agriculture sector remained strong; the interval gains of multiple ETFs exceeded 10%, becoming a haven where funds rushed in.

Multiple public funds have pointed out that the main driving force behind the agriculture sector’s outperformance comes primarily from the fertilizer sector. Its strong performance is the result of a three-factor resonance: “seasonal demand + cost-driven + geopolitics.”

Invesco Great Wall Fund stated that agricultural products are also the focus of this round of “anti-overheating” attention. With the pork, aquatic products, and grain industries responding to policy calls one after another and actively reducing capacity, agricultural product supply is expected to be optimized, thereby pushing corporate earnings to rebound.

The Fund Galaxy Fund analyzed that, currently, the agriculture sector is a relatively broad concept, and the fundamental outlook projections for each core sub-sector show clear and differentiated logic:

In the seed industry, policy direction setting and technological change are the main driving forces. The 2026 Central No. 1 Document continues to strengthen grain security and explicitly proposes advancing the industrialization of biological breeding. The Fund Galaxy Fund believes that policy top-level design has shifted from ensuring stable production to increasing output per unit; the acceleration of the commercialization of biological breeding is underway. Grain prices may fluctuate in the short term, but expectations of globally looser liquidity and inventory destocking support medium-term prices. Leading seed companies, supported by technological barriers, are expected to realize performance delivery through improved market share amid industry reshuffling.

The fertilizer and pesticide sectors are expected to continue maintaining a tight supply-demand balance pattern. In recent times, phosphate fertilizer prices have stayed high, ensuring company profitability, and the cost-support logic has continued to be reinforced.

The livestock breeding sector is in a typical left-side positioning period. China’s hog breeding industry is currently in a “loss-making bottoming out” stage, with live pig prices around RMB 12–13 per kg, below the cost line of about RMB 14 per kg. With ongoing losses compounded by policy guidance, the trend of capacity reduction is becoming clear. The market’s key trading consideration lies in the expectation that “capacity reductions will lead to a future contraction in supply.” As the number of sows capable of reproduction in inventory approaches the policy targets, the certainty of the cycle reversal is accumulating. The sector has excellent defensive and counterattack characteristics.

(Editor-in-charge: Liu Chang)

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