The giant retailer Wal-Mart plans to invest a total of US$16.9m in the five stores it will open in Chongqing this year, according to a company executive quoted by Chongqing Daily. One of the stores has already opened and the five in total will have a combined floor area of more than 10,000 sq metres.

Official statistics show that total retail sales in Chongqing during the first five months of the year rose by 18.4 per cent to Rmb231bn. In May alone, sales increased 20.9 per cent year-on-year to Rmb50bn, a monthly record, thanks to the May Day holiday and the newly-created Duanwu holiday.