No date for furniture trade-in policy

Updated: 2012-05-07 21:10

By By Li Woke (chinadaily.com.cn)

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On Monday, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce denied reports that it will introduce policies in the next two months to stimulate domestic furniture consumption.

Beijing Business Today reported that incentives to encourage people to trade in old furniture will be introduced in July this year.

However, a spokesperson for the Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce called the report inaccurate and said no schedule has been set for issuing the new policy.

According to Beijing Business Today, the new policy is estimated to increase furniture consumption by several hundred billion yuan.

At the moment, the details of the policy are unclear, but it is modeled on similar government incentives for trading in used cars and upgrading appliances.

Because many of those tax rebates on vehicles and domestic appliances have expired and others are set to expire, the government has been working on new ways to promote consumer spending, according to an earlier statement by the Ministry of Commerce.

In addition to aid buying new furniture, the government is considering offering more subsidies for housing, appliances and other expenditures related to quality of life.

Industry insiders say a few issues need to be resolved before the policy can be properly implemented, such as the question of how to evaluate and reuse the old furniture.

Some furniture outlets have already begun offering discounts to capture a share of the flood of demand expected to result from the policy.