Home Appliance Sales in Rural Subsidy Program Fall in Jan.

BEIJING, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday that home appliance sales under the country's rural subsidy program dropped 25.7 percent year-on-year to 13.74 billion yuan (2.18 billion U.S. dollars) in January.

During the period, 5.18 million units of subsidized home appliance were sold to rural consumers, down 32.5 percent from the previous year, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

The ministry attributed the decreases to a bigger comparison base last year and the year's week-long Chinese Spring Festival, which started Jan. 22.