} ?>
(Yicai Global) Jan. 29 -- Shares in Shunho New Materials Technology have almost doubled in less than two weeks after the Shanghai-based firm announced plans to grow and process industrial hemp in China's southwestern Yunnan province.
The company's stock [SHE:002565] rose 3.01 percent this morning to reach CNY7.88 (USD1.17) despite widespread selloffs over concerns of a slowdown in the global economy.
Shunho's stock had hit the bourse's maximum allowed daily increase of 10 percent for seven consecutive days after the announcement on Jan. 17 that one of its units had obtained an industrial hemp planting license and shares have expanded about 88 percent overall.
The same species as the marijuana strain which is a controlled substance in much of the world, industrial hemp is a variety of cannabis with tetrahydrocannabinol -- the psychotropic compound in its often-banned cousin -- content of less than 0.3 percent.
Cannabis Sativa and its relative Cannabis Indica yield the world's strongest natural fiber material, public information shows, beating out stainless steel pound for pound.
Its main applications are in medicine, food and healthcare, agriculture and feed, however. China's industrial hemp acreage is over half the world's total, and the country owns several bio-patents to the plant.
Shunho's Luxin Biological Pharmaceutical has wrung an industrial hemp planting permit and approval to process hemp leaves from local authorities in the province. The firm is expected to sign deals with local farmers to get about 1,000 mu (66.7 hectares) of land for planting, which should start in March, and it may increase planting area in following years, according to the company's new statement yesterday.