Sinofert Holdings has reported a quadrupling in earnings and forecast further growth to come as state support and growing food consumption enrich China's farmers.

The group, China's largest distributor of imported fertilizers, said that the government's "utmost top priority" of boosting agricultural output presented the group with the chance to promote sustained growth. Subsidies to farmers are set to rise 20% to RMB123bn ($18.0bn) this year

China's growing population, and its taste for foods beyond its historic staple of rice, represented a further fillip to fertilizer groups.

"The demand for grain is growing at a steady pace, which boosts the continuous increase in fertilizer consumption," Sinofert said, adding that the sector had also benefited from cuts to export taxes.

"There are more opportunities than challenges ahead of us," the group said.

The comments came as Sinofert unveiled earnings of RMB627m for the June to December period, compared with RMB126m a year before.

While revenues grew by a comparatively slow 60% to RMB23.1bn, the company also benefited from a series of one-off effects, including a tax deferral, first contributions from acquisitions and a gain on revaluation of a convertible bond.

Among Sinofert's product types, compound fertilizers showed the largest growth, rising by 114% to RMB3.96bn.

Potash, in which Sinofert has a 55% market share in China, the world's biggest fertilizer market remained the biggest revenue earner, with takings growing 75% to RMB10.6bn.