BEIJING - The Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday that home appliance sales under China's rural subsidy program surged 58.3 percent year on year to 19.33 billion yuan ($3.07 billion) in August.

In the first eight months of 2012, home appliance sales in China's countryside rose 21.8 percent from a year earlier to reach 136.32 billion yuan, according to a statement posted on the ministry's website.

The volume of appliances sold in the period increased 11.8 percent to 50.87 million units, the statement said.

Sales of color TV sets, refrigerators, air conditioners and water heaters all exceeded 10 billion yuan during the first eight months, accounting for 84.2 percent of the total sales.

As of the end of last month, China had subsidized 269 million units of home appliances valued at 642.2 billion yuan since the subsidy program began in 2009, according to the statement.

The subsidy program, which will continue until January 2013, is part of the government's efforts to stimulate rural consumption and buoy the nation's economic growth amid the global economic downturn.

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