BEIJING -- China's home appliance sales under the country's rural subsidy program surged 12.8 percent year-on-year to 26 billion yuan ($4.13 billion) in November, the Ministry of Commerce said Monday.

In the first eleven months, subsidized home appliance sales in China's countryside rose 18.1 percent from a year earlier to reach 201.25 billion yuan, according to a MOC statement.

The volume of appliances sold in the same period increased 22.2 percent to 74.93 million units, the statement said.

As of the end of November, China had subsidized 293 million home appliances valued at a total of 707.1 billion yuan since the subsidy program began in 2009.

Sales of color TVs, refrigerators, air conditioners and water heaters all exceeded 20 billion yuan during the first eleven months, accounting for 80.4 percent of total sales, 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.

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