Paris, Oct 5 - Carrefour plans to open around 100 new hyper and supermarkets in Turkey in 2010 after it completes plans to open 60 in 2009, the French retailer said on Monday.
Carrefour also aims to open an extra 100 stores under the "Hard Discount" banner next year, maintaining this year's rate of openings for the cut-price brand in Turkey, the spokesman said.
"This is really a period of strong investment and strong growth in (Turkey)," the spokesman said. Turkish consumer spending was expected to reach an average annual growth rate of 6.7 percent by 2012, up from 2 percent in 2008, and the grocery goods market would hit a growth rate of 6.2 percent by 2012, up from 1.5 percent last year, he said. Christopher Hogbin, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein in London, said: "Turkey is genuinely an emerging market opportunity for Carrefour ... They've been committed there for a while."
So far this year, Carrefour has opened 39 supermarkets and three hypermarkets in Turkey, as well as 74 Hard Discount stores. The company will open its next Turkish hypermarket on Oct. 21, in the eastern city of Erzurum.
In September, Le Monde newspaper reported that Carrefour was under pressure from big shareholders to exit emerging markets such as China and Brazil. The spokesman declined to comment on the group's plans in these countries.