Mitsui Fudosan Co. plans to open more shopping centers in China as the company bets consumer spending will spur demand even as the government attempts to cool the housing market.
Japan's largest property developer plans to build "several" shopping centers in cities including Beijing starting in 2014, after completing its first mall in Shanghai by 2013, said Takehito Fukui, a project manager of the retail properties division at Mitsui Fudosan. The plan will depend on the completion of the Shanghai project.
Mitsui Fudosan, which generated less than 10 percent of its profit overseas last fiscal year, is expanding its business in China amid rising consumer spending there.
"There is still plenty of room for growth in China in terms of consumer spending and we would like to continue to develop commercial properties there," Fukui said last Wednesday. "We see China as a place to expand our business, including developing and operating commercial properties."