The French hypermarket chain Carrefour has signed an agreement with the State Economic and Trade Commission that will allow it to resume supermarket openings after a suspension of six months, the Financial Times said. The suspension followed a demand from the central government to reorganise its holdings because Carrefour’s 27 stores in China had been built by agreement with local governments rather than the central government in Beijing.
A Carrefour spokesman said that the company hoped to open about 10 stores a year in China and that it had signed an agreement to open a joint venture hypermarket in Guangzhou. Carrefour also plans to establish about 10 purchasing centres in China that will procure goods for sale overseas.