Samsung, Panasonic, Nokia and other leading foreign brands were on the list of Chinese subsidized household appliances for farmers.

The Chinese government promised to grant a 13 percent subsidy for household appliances for farmers' on purchase of these household appliances to improve 900 million rural residents' living standards and boost domestic consumption, and a pilot program began in December 2007.

According to the bidding result announced by the China National Electronics Import and Export Corp. said over the weekend, 155 domestic and foreign companies took part in the bidding for colour TV sets, refrigerators, mobile phones, washing machines and chest freezers.

Some 122 won the bid for the five types.

Panasonic, Midea, TCL and other 33 brands were on the washing machine list, with Samsung, Nokia, Motorola and other 14 brands getting a share of the big mobile phone market in the rural regions.

Ten domestic leading manufacturers including Hisense, Konka and Haier were on the colour TV sets list, while Meiling, Haier, Siemens and a further 37 brands were on the refrigerators list. Another 19 companies won the bid for chest freezers.

The government expanded the subsidy to nine more provinces from the initial three of eastern Shandong, central Henan and southwestern Sichuan.

The new areas included Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Hubei and Shaanxi, among others.

China's State Council (Cabinet) passed a string of policies to support the development of the country's light industry on Wednesday. One of them is to expand the practice of offering subsidies to rural households to buy electrical appliances.

Huo Dufang, chairman of China Household Electric Appliance Association said last month the country's home electric appliance industry faced a severe situation this year with production, sales and export slowing down, adding that the rural market provided the industry with new opportunities.

Jin Ming, an executive of domestic leading chain retailer Suning Appliance, forecast that nearly 100 million colour TV sets and 145 million refrigerators were needed in the next ten years by the 210 million households in rural areas.

Dr. Ou Minggang, a domestic economist, told Xinhua on Sunday that the household appliance subsidy policy revealed the government's resolution to boost domestic consumption in the long run.

However, he added that "supporting facilities including the power grid construction and tap water supply were also indispensable conditions for farmers to benefit from those household appliances."

(Xinhua News Agency November 24, 2008)