Home appliance subsidies won't continue  

家電節能補貼明日收官 民眾期待長效機制促消費

明日，實施了近一年時間的家電節能補貼政策就將結束。盡管此前政策也遭到了補貼力度有限、優惠額度難落實等質疑，但連日來各地家電市場的火爆場面，就足以證明該政策的實施對家電市場影響不可小覷。并且眾多消費者趕搭節能補貼的“末班車”紛紛提前消費計劃，這也讓業內人士開始擔心，在補貼政策結束后的6、7月份，家電市場會不會迎來一個難熬的“疲軟期”。

(ECNS) -- The one-year home appliances subsidy program, launched on June 1 last year and designed to boost domestic demand and spur green consumption, will not be extended, and no new program has been confirmed, a spokesman for the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday.

The subsidies program stimulated consumption through lower pricing of home appliances, a report in Economic Information Daily said, as the average price of TV sets was lowered by 115 yuan ($18.55). It also cited figures from a market research organization, saying 32.7 million energy-saving appliances were sold, with sales of 115.4 billion yuan.

Sales of subsidized products rose sharply this month as customers flocked to home appliance retailers to seize the last opportunity to enjoy the subsidy program. Suning Home Appliance Co, one of the largest home appliance retailers, said sales grew three times from the same period last year.

But insiders worried that the market would become tepid in the following months, as demands were met in the past year.

Home appliance producers should put more efforts into improving product quality and after-sale services, not just rely on government support, according to a report by the Securities Daily.

The government should enforce stricter efficiency requirements to raise the bar for a more sustainable development of the industry, instead of introducing subsidy policies to boost the popularity of energy-saving home appliances, said the Economic Information Daily.