Chinese farmers to be awarded appliance subsidy

Chinese farmers will be given a 13 percent discount on televisions, mobile phones and other electrical appliances under a new subsidy scheme to boost rural spending, state press reported yesterday.

A pilot program will begin for three of the nation's major agricultural provinces under which the government will offer the subsidy for TVs, mobile phones and refrigerators, the China Daily reported, citing the finance ministry.

Once the scheme is expanded, air conditioners and washing machines will also attract a subsidy, according to the ministry.

However, the 13 percent figure was only given for the pilot program, which will begin early next year in Shandong, Henan and Sichuan provinces.

China's economic boom has brought unprecedented wealth to the nation's cities, but many of the 800 million people living in the countryside have missed out on much of the development.

The new scheme reportedly aims to partly address this issue, as well as to get more people to buy local products rather than have the bulk of electrical appliances exported overseas.

"The move is meant to give farmers more benefits and divert more government expenditure to the consumer sector from fixed asset investment and the export industry," finance ministry official Zeng Xiaoan (曾曉安) was quoted as saying.

"If 1 percent of rural families buy TV sets priced at 1,000 yuan each, it means 2.5 billion yuan [in sales]," Zeng said.

Televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and mobile phones accounted for 28 percent of China's trade surplus last year, the report said.