TOKYO, April 25 - Soaring sales of refrigerators and other "white goods"at Japan's big electronics stores helped boost March sales of consumer appliances19.61 percent, the Nippon Electric Big Stores Association said on Wednesday. Appliance sales by association members totalled 299.47 billion yen ($2.45 billion),marking a 16th straight year-on-year gain and the first two-digit growth since an 11.6percent rise in November 2000. An association spokesman attributed the strong sales to the introduction of a newrecycling law this April requiring households to pay fees for the disposal of consumerappliances. Industry sources say the law will likely cause sales to drop in and after April. March sales of refrigerators led the white goods stampede, rising a steep 144.30percent from a year earlier to 30.23 billion yen. Sales of washing machines were up91.62 percent and air conditioners 99.32 percent. By contrast, March sales of personal computers (PC) fell 7.38 percent from a yearearlier to 48.887 billion yen, following a 12.34 percent drop in February, the firstdecline since April 1998. The association attributed the fall to a shift in demand from desk-top computers tomobile phones, where sales soared 126.89 percent to 4.40 billion yen in March. Sales by association members account for some 36 percent of Japan's overall sales ofhome electronics and appliances, the spokesman said.