BEIJING - A nationwide subsidy program for rural consumers failed to spur home appliance sales in rural China amid the economic slowdown in the first four months of this year, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Monday.

Home appliance sales in China's countryside fell 6.7 percent year-on-year to stand at 61.68 billion yuan ($9.8 billion) from January to April, the MOC said in a statement posted on its website.

The volume of appliances sold in the period dropped 16.7 percent to hit 23.34 million units, according to the MOC.

As of the end of April, China had subsidized 241 million units of home appliances valued at 567.49 billion yuan over the past two-and-a-half years since the subsidy program began, according to MOC data.

Initiated in 2009 to stimulate rural consumption and buoy the nation's economic growth amid the global economic downturn, the subsidy program will be effective until January 2013.

Under the program, farmers can receive subsidies equal to 13 percent of the price of the home appliances they buy.