Briefly

Rural areas urged to buy green, smart

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and four other departments issued a notice on Friday encouraging local governments to promote spending on green and smart home appliances in rural areas, and to replace old household appliances with new ones. The notice called for efforts to improve energy efficiency standards involving home appliances and lighting products, promote the consumption of energy-saving air conditioners, refrigerators, water heaters, highefficiency lighting products and degradable materials.

Coastal bulk freight index down in May

China's coastal bulk freight market saw a decline in overall demand in May, data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange showed. Monthly, the composite index for coastal bulk freight, which measures transportation costs in the coastal shipping market, dropped 2 percent to 1,099.62. The sub-index for coal saw the most notable decrease at 2.9 percent, followed by metal ore.

Xinhua - China Daily