Carrefour to continue expanding in China

Carrefour, the world's second-largest retailer by sales, Thursday said the company planned to open more than 20 hypermarkets every year on the Chinese mainland, a reflection of great ambition and confidence in the country's highly competitive retailing market.

Currently, Carrefour operates 236 hypermarkets in 73 cities on the mainland.

It also plans to further its business expansion into another 30 new cities during the following three years, bringing the total number to more than 100, said Thierry Garnier, vice president of Carrefour Group and CEO of Carrefour China, at a press conference held in Beijing Thursday.

The Chinese retailing industry is challenging, but the company foresees more opportunities and rooms for new stores in Central and West China, he told the Global Times.

According to the company's third-quarter financial report ending September 30, its global sales rose 2.7 percent year-on-year to 21.1 billion euros ($28.7 billion).

The organic sales in the Chinese mainland increased 4.7 percent in the third quarter year-on-year and the like-for-like sales in the market saw a 1.1 percent rise, or the second consecutive quarterly growth.

Thierry Garnier also said in a press release that the company never simply regarded China as an overseas market and is willing to sail on the same track with Chinese partners.

The company is in partnership with nearly 40 enterprises in China, 23 of which are local ones.

On November 23, Carrefour was named the "Best Partner" in 2013 by the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China.

Carrefour will devote full efforts to introduce more imported French food to the Chinese market as well, said Garnier.

Carrefour pledged to provide safe food for Chinese consumers, and the company said that it has established four class-A labs in Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Shenyang to examine food sold inside its hypermarkets based on 65 testing parameters such as pesticide residue.

The company also established 45 minilabs for quick food safety tests.