Home appliance trade-in program drives $10.44 bln in sales as of Aug. 10
Shanghai. August 16. INTERFAX-CHINA - Sales of new home appliances in China related to a government-backed home appliance trade-in program totaled RMB 71 billion ($10.44 billion) as of August 10, according to figures released by the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on August 16.
Under the trade-in scheme, old home appliances and electronics can be traded for ten percent off the cost of a new appliance. Televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and personal computers are covered under the scheme.
The program was launched on June 1, 2009 in nine pilot cities and provinces.
According to MOFCOM, by August 10, 2010, a total of 19 million new home appliances were sold and roughly 19.8 million old appliances were recycled.
Also, more than RMB 6 billion ($882 million) in subsidies were given to around 18.98 million households in the areas under the scheme, according to MOFCOM.
The cities and provinces involved in the program are Fuzhou City in Fujian Province, Changsha City in Hunan Province, Jiangsu Province, Zhejiang Province, Shandong Province, Guangdong Province and the municipalities of Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjing.
On June 3, MOFCOM announced that the trade-in policy will be extended to December 31, 2011. It was originally scheduled to end on May 31, Interfax previously reported.
MOFCOM also added 19 cities and provinces to the scheme so that it now covers most of China.
-YXY