Nilton Sacenco, Suframa's deputy superintendent, says that new rules will distinguish between a computer with good speakers (tax breaks available all over Brazil) and a domestic appliance with added Internet access (tax breaks in Amazonia only).

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More fundamentally, Zhang took on the early domestic leader in appliance sales, Gome, and now has it pinned firmly in the runner-up role.

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The leading household appliance brands, by contrast, are cheaply priced domestic makers such as TCL, Changhong and Little Swan.

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