Premium of China's insurance companies hit 1.02 trillion yuan (US$149.6 billion) in the first 11 months of this year, up 11.65 percent from a year earlier, according to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission Thursday.

The year would be the first year that China's insurance premiums exceeded 1 trillion yuan, data from the commission showed.

From January to November, premium of property insurance rose 22.28 percent year on year to 264.02 billion yuan, and that of life insurance was 757.66 billion yuan, an annual increase of 8.37percent.

The commission said the country's insurance firms were expected to eye combined profits at 46.09 billion yuan in the first 11 months, an increase of 57.45 billion yuan over the same period of last year.

Profits of the country's insurers nationwide was about 26.1 billion yuan in the first half, up 98 percent, the commission said in July.

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2009)