Chinese home appliances and electronics retailer Suning has announced plans to buy 179 million additional shares from Laox, Suning's subsidiary in Japan, at the price of JPY35 per share.

According to China's Ministry of Commerce, sales of home appliances in the country's rural areas in January 2011 passed 10 million units in a single month for the first time.

Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Statistics has published its latest retail statistics, stating that Shanghai's consumer retail sales reached CNY445.764 billion in the first nine months of 2010, a year-on-year increase of 17.6%.

Jiang Zengwei, the deputy director of China's Ministry of Commerce, and Fang Aiqing, the assistant director of the Ministry of Commerce, said during an interview that China plans to boost its overall consumption through five measures.

Yamada Denki, one of the largest electronics retailers in Japan, is planning to open a flagship store in China.