(Yicai) April 21 -- The provincial governments of China's Jiangsu and Heilongjiang have introduced subsidies for home appliance purchases in addition to the national ones to encourage consumption.

Consumers in Jiangsu can get a 15 percent discount on the final selling price of eligible products across 10 categories, including smart homes, smart terminals, consumer medical devices, and cutting-edge embodied artificial intelligence robots, with a maximum subsidy of CNY1,500 (USD208) per item, according to a policy released by the local commerce department on April 17.

Each consumer can receive a maximum total subsidy of CNY15,000 (USD 2,080) during the campaign.

On the first day after the policy release, sales of subsidized home appliance categories at multiple Suning stores in Jiangsu doubled compared with a week earlier, a Suning staff member told Yicai.

Heilongjiang launched its subsidy policy on April 18, covering seven categories of smart home products, with a subsidy rate of 15 percent on the final selling price.

Neither of the two provinces disclosed the total subsidy amount, but both specified that they will allocate a quota, and subsidies will end once the quota is exhausted.

"These moves are a response to the Ministry of Commerce's promotion of consumer goods trade-in," a senior industry insider told Yicai. "Provinces are set to roll out independent subsidies for smart home appliances and age-friendly products based on local market and fiscal conditions to stimulate market vitality and further drive the expansion and upgrading of the consumer market."

In fact, similar policies to those in Jiangsu and Heilongjiang are also expected to be implemented soon in Guangdong, Shanghai, Hubei, Anhui, Chongqing, and other provincial-level regions.

"This year's provincial subsidies in Guangdong are expected to cover a wider range of product categories than the national subsidies, but the exact launch date remains uncertain," a member of the Guangdong Home Appliances Chamber of Commerce told Yicai. Another industry insider from the Chinese southern province also confirmed this to Yicai.

Compared with last year, this year's national subsidy program covers fewer eligible products, offers weaker support, and raises the threshold for subsidized home appliances by focusing more on high-energy-efficiency products. The extra subsidies provided by provincial governments are expected to greatly help stimulate local consumption.

Industry insiders are optimistic that the home appliance market will stabilize and rebound this month, boosted by the local subsidy policies, creating growth potential for sales during the upcoming Labor Day holiday and June 18 mid-year e-commerce shopping festival.

China's home appliance market faced pressure in the first quarter of this year due to a high base a year earlier because of the national subsidy policy. The country’s retail sales of home appliances, excluding computers, communications, and consumer electronics products, fell 6.2 percent in the three months ended March 31 from the same period last year, as the figure for March plunged over 12 percent, according to data from a research firm.

China's home appliance exports fell 0.9 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, dragged down by a nearly 18 percent drop in March, according to the General Administration of Customs. Moreover, the Middle East conflict has added pressure on raw material costs for home appliance manufacturers.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione