BEIJING, June 18 (Xinhua) -- China's national program of promoting large-scale equipment renewals and replacing old consumer goods with new ones has got off to a good start, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

In the first five months of this year, investment in the purchase of equipment and appliances increased by 17.5 percent year on year, contributing more than 50 percent to the total investment growth in the country, NDRC spokesperson Li Chao told a press conference on Tuesday.

During the period, sales generated from home appliance replacements surged more than 80 percent from a year earlier on major e-commerce platforms, Li said, noting that replacing old appliances has become an important factor promoting the growth of home appliance consumption.

Meanwhile, a large number of intelligent recycling facilities have been provided to communities around the country, which has improved China's recycling system, the spokesperson added.

The country has already completed the construction of the policy system for promoting large-scale equipment renewals and replacing old consumer goods with new ones, while local governments across 31 provincial-level regions have all released action plans for the program.

The country is also gradually implementing financial support for the program, with 6.44 billion yuan (about 905 million U.S. dollars) worth of central government funds allocated for supporting trade-ins of automobiles and 500 million yuan for supporting the scrapping of old agricultural machinery, according to the NDRC.