Hemp-related stocks surge after third Chinese province expected to legalise cultivation
- Industrial hemp isn’t the same as pot. It’s used in such products as body care and clothing China accounts for half of world’s hemp cultivation; is biggest exporter of hemp paper, textiles
The industrial hemp sector posted a big jump Monday morning on the Chinese stock market, as funds flew into the sector after local government media reported that northeastern Jilin province is expected to legalise its cultivation.
Jilin would be the third province to cultivate the plant in China, which is the world’s largest hemp producing country. Yunnan and Heilongjiang provinces grow it already.
Marijuana growth and consumption is illegal in China, but hemp – also part of the cannabis family – is used for industrial purposes, such as clothing and paper. While the two are sometimes associated in popular culture, it has been said that your lungs would fail before you would get high from smoking industrial hemp.
The country is trying to revive the old rust-belt economy of Northeast China, which has struggled to transforms itself in a rapidly changing country. Heilongjiang and Jilin are both located there.
Shanghai Shunho New Materials Technology, which holds a license to grow hemp in southwestern Yunnan province, soared on Monday and hit the Shenzhen bourse’s daily increase limit of 10 per cent, closing at 7.14 yuan.
Other hemp-related shares also surged. Jilin Zixin Pharmaceutical advanced 7 per cent to end at 5.63 yuan. Galaxy Biomedical Investment rose 4.5 per cent to 3.75 yuan. Tianjin Global Magnetic Card gained 2.1 per cent to 5.81 yuan.