Several hours before the doors open at 11 a

"Happy coincidence", as he is in is itself commended, José-Luis Duran, the President of the Executive Board of Carrefour, conducted Saturday in Beijing at the opening of the thousandth hypermarket of the group in the world, while Jacques Chirac completed his official visit to China. Christine Lagarde, the Minister in charge of foreign trade, had been delegated by the President of the Republic to Tongzhou, in the largest suburb of the capital China. In the presence of the Deputy Minister for trade, Huang Hai, and many personalities, it welcomed the "exemplary cooperation" between the number two global distribution and its local partners. She noted that "well understood consumption to establish bridges between men", Carrefour seeing this "flagship in leading in the wake of many French SMEs in China and Chinese in France".

José-Luis Duran for his part recalled that crossroads was 24 common companies in China, which local partners hold on average 35 of the capital. Since late 1995 in this country, where it is cost-effective since 2001, the French distributor operates 85 hypermarkets (Tongzhou is the 84th and the 85th opens tomorrow in Harbin) and 253 stores Dia. He plans to carry out this year a turnover of EUR 2.5 billion, up 20, while in still only representing 3 of the overall turnover of the group.

Referring to the probable acquisition by Wal-Mart of important local actor, Trust-Mart, which would put the US giant to Carrefour, he assured be "ready to seize any opportunity of growth, but on two conditions: the price and ease of operational integration of the target. He confirmed his goal of opening in China 20 hypermarkets per year (an entirely self-funded development), 3 or 4 nothing to Beijing before the 2008 Olympic Games.

After the development of Champion, French distributor seems simply to Dia global licence obtained in Beijing and Shanghai for 350 points of sale, with "a very marginal investment." In addition, teams of Jean-Luc Chéreau, the President of Carrefour China, have mission is to make "tactical acquisitions" in order to strengthen the presence of the sign in the 45 to 50 main cities in China that warrant. It is now located in 38 of them.

Tongzhou, cité-dortoir about 40 minutes from the centre of Beijing, to the East and in very strong expansion (its population of some 600,000 people should double in... three years!), the opening of the "DjiaLeFou" (phonetic translation of Carrefour which means in Chinese "Happiness and prosperity for the whole family") has been a spectacular fashion. Several hours before the doors open at 11 a.m., thousands of people urged on the nearby arteries, under a bright autumn sun. The store, on two floors in a mall, was stormed and has not spousal until closing at 22 hours. "We registered 15.741 rates for sales of 2 million Yuan," said Eric Deliers, the Regional Director. Performance, since attendance average of Carrefour Shuangjing, opened in 2004 in one of the more expensive in Beijing city, is 10,000 people, while the average amount of purchases in retailer Carrefour in China is of the order of 10 to 15 euros. A veritable human tide has invaded the store of Tongzhou, where not less 7 tons of rice, 8 pomelo (die quality crossroads), 6,000 cans of 5 litres oil and even 30 televisions LCD 32 inches to about 450 euros were sold the first day. Despite the indescribable rush and tails to the funds until the middle of the sales area, customers remained patient. Carrefour bet on the development of the purchasing power of the middle classes in China seems to be well under way.