(Yicai) March 11 -- The first batch of savings bonds issued by China’s Ministry of Finance this year sold out quickly in Beijing.

“The saving bonds were sold out at around 9.30 a.m. yesterday,” according to the account managers at lenders in Beijing interviewed by Yicai. “Those who managed to buy the products had queued outside long before the bank opened.” Commercial bank branches in the Beijing area generally open at 9.00 a.m.

The MOF earlier announced it would issue this year’s first batch of three-year and five-year savings treasury bonds with coupon rates of 2.38 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively, worth a total of CNY30 billion (USD4.2 billion) between March 10 and March 19.

The first four customers of the day bought the whole CNY800,000 (USD111,280) savings treasury bond quota of the bank, leaving more than a dozen people in line empty-handed, a staffer at the Beijing branch of a major state-owned lender told Yicai.

In the past two years, China has lowered its interest rate on saving bonds several times because of the generally falling interest rates. The interest rates of the last batch of savings bonds issued in November last year were 2.63 percent for three-year bonds and 2.75 percent for the five-year ones, up 0.25 percentage point compared to yesterday’s issuance.

Even though market interest rates may continue to fall, the safety of treasury bonds and the fact that their interest rates are still higher than those of products with the same maturity at large state-owned banks continued to attract some residents, especially middle-aged and elderly residents.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione