BEIJING - Sales of home appliances in China continue to boom under a subsidy program aimed at stimulating rural consumption and improving farmers' living standards, data from the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) showed Saturday.

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During the first five months this year, retailers had sold a total of 45.23 million units of home appliances under the subsidy program, 71 percent more than the same period last year, the MOC said in a statement on its website.

That has resulted in sales of 109.5 billion yuan ($16.9 billion), more than doubled the same period last year, according to the statement.

The MOC figures also showed that, from February 2009 when China launched the subsidy program to the end of this May, the government had issued 40.75 billion yuan of subsidies, resulting in total sales of 160 million units of home appliances, valued at 351.3 billion yuan.

Among the best-selling home appliances are refrigerators and TV sets, which accounted for 60 percent of the total sales. Due to the approaching summer, sales of refrigerators and air-conditioners more than doubled from May to April.