Shares in Chinese companies that make and sell baby products have surged after a report said China is considering plans to scrap limits on the number of children a couple can have.
Companies like Shanghai Aiyingshi, which runs a chain of stores selling baby products, infant care device makers, and others saw their shares rise as much as 10% on Tuesday. China’s Shanghai Composite index rose 0.51 points to its highest close in more than a month.
On Monday, Bloomberg reported that China’s state council has commissioned research on the impacts of ending limits on the number of children families can have, citing anonymous sources familiar with government deliberations.
After almost 40 years of China’s “one-child” policy, which barred many families from having more than one child, the government loosened the policy in 2015 to allow all parents to have two offspring.
But three years later, China’s fertility rate remains one of the lowest in the world, at 1.24 births per woman, below the expected rate of 1.63. The number of births fell 4% from the year before.
The decision on whether to remove the limits could come as soon as this year or in 2019, and is an effort to counteract the rapid ageing of the country’s population and also to lessen global criticism of its family planning policies, according to Bloomberg.