South Korea's largest retailer Shinsegae Group targets to open 1,000 supermarkets in China, said an official of the group on Thursday.

The Shinsegae Group has opened 20 supermarkets throughout China and is scheduled to open another 10 supermarkets in China within this year, said Koo Hak-su, CEO of the Shinsegae Group, at an interview with Xinhua at the southeastern port city of Busan on occasion of a briefing for its upcoming multiplex shopping center in Busan.

Shinsegae, which operates eight department stores and 120 supermarkets all over South Korea, is the country's largest retailer with an annual turnover of 14.5 trillion won (about 9.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2008.

According to Koo, in recent years, the investment in China has accounted for about 10 percent of the group's annual investment of 1 trillion won (662.2 million U.S. dollars). The Shinsegae plans to expand investment in China because China is one of the most potential markets in the world.

"The ongoing global financial crisis will not affect our investment plan in China as we believe China will be the first nation to recover from the crisis," Koo said. "The Chinese government has taken efficient measures against the crisis and can take advantage of the nation's huge domestic market."

Shinsegae opened its first supermarket, named E-mart, in China in 1997.

Source: Xinhua