China Green Expands Into Food Retail On Mainland

According to Sun Shaofeng, chairman and president of China Green, the group's first food retail chain store on the Chinese mainland has been opened in Xiamen, Fujian.

The Fujian-based group has plans to extend its chain stores to over 90% of major Chinese mainland cities in the next five years. It will first open three direct-managed stores in Xiamen to establish its image and will extend in the mainland market through franchising. The company expects to raise the contribution of sales from the Chinese market from the current 53% to 65% within three years. At present, its retail chain stores mainly focus on high-profit snack foods. Apart from some own brands, the company imports special snack products from 23 countries, including Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, and Australia.

At present about 40% of China Green's total revenue comes from exporting agricultural products to countries like Japan, Russia, and Egypt. Sun said the group wanted to shift from simple product manufacturing to self-owned brand management and to gradually establish an entire food industry chain, covering agricultural product manufacturing, processing, distribution, and retail.

He also revealed that the group was planning to acquire local food brands, which might contribute to the group's growth in the mainland retail business.