News from a meeting of Tibet's Political Consultative Conference held in Lhasa is that Tibet plans to build 400 rural retail stores in the autonomous region's agricultural and pastoral areas to address the problems of the local population in purchasing commodities.

According to statistics from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, the country's total retail sales increased by 14.8% in April 2009.

According to Pierre Bertholat, vice president for Carrefour China and president for Carrefour South China, the company plans to open five to ten new stores in South China cities, including Guangzhou and Shenzhen, in 2009.