The "Appliances to the Countryside" campaign is slated to last four years, starting as a test in 14 provinces from December 1 and being formally launched nationwide on February 1. It is planned to sell 480 million units and generate 920 billion yuan domestic consumption. The government will subsidize China's appliance giants for selling at a discount to farmers.
Now the program has been developed in part to ease the homecoming of millions of peasants who have recently lost jobs in eastern and coastal areas due to the downturn in exporting industries.
Xu Dongsheng, vice-secretary general of the China Home Electric Appliance Association, said that the ministries were studying ways to promote computer in rural areas.
According to a senior Haier official, the government is surveying PC makers and collecting data on computer promotion in rural areas, investigating whether farmers need computers and detailed sales figures of computer brands on rural markets.Â
Farmers, PC makers, and local governments are supportive of the computer promotion plan. Haier proclaimed its strong support in the materials it submitted to the government.
Computer prices have dropped steadily in the past few years. Now, computers costing two to three thousand yuan can meet people’s basic needs for internet surfing, studying, and office applications, leading to increasingly larger demand in rural areas. A 13% subsidy will allow farmers to buy one, and make computers very popular in rural areas.
A Haier official said the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has long been promoting construction of information facilities in rural areas. A pilot project was launched in Henan Province last year. During the same year Intel, Haier, China Netcom, and the Information Technology Bureau of Henan Province signed a framework contract for cooperation on information construction last year. Haier is also helping the government of Shandong Province with a similar project
PC giants such as HP, Lenovo, Founder, and Haier are all expanding business in rural areas. Competition on rural markets is becoming very fierce.
Shen Mingcai, a member of the National People’s Congress and general manager of the Henan branch of China Netcom, suggested that relevant government departments should subsidize rural consumers to buy more types of home appliances, especially computers. Shen Mingcai said subsidizing rural computer buyers would help to expand internal demand and promote the development of the computer industry.