BEIJING: Luen Thai Group Ltd, the Hong Kong-headquartered family-owned conglomerate with vast business interests in the Asia-Pacific region, will continue to increase its investments in the Chinese mainland, given emerging opportunities in the form of the dual-circulation development pattern and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

       Luen Thai’s goal is to tap growth opportunities arising from China’s new development strategy and big-ticket multilateral free trade deals like the RCEP, said a senior executive of the company.

       Luen Thai and the United States-based footwear giant Skechers USA Inc formed a joint venture called Skechers China Ltd in 2007 to sell footwear in China. Luen Thai has set for itself a target of running 400 superstores across the Chinese mainland by the end of this year.

       The group invested one billion yuan (RM642.4mil) to build a logistics centre in Taicang, eastern China’s Jiangsu province, in 2017.

       Many of these superstores will be located in lower-tier cities and counties, said Willie Tan, chief executive officer of Luen Thai Retail and Luen Thai Enterprises, the group’s two business arms. Tan is also CEO of Skechers China, the Republic of Korea and South-East Asia.

       Luen Thai will continue to expand the sales channels for brands, including the US footwear brand Naturalizer and designer female footwear brand Sam Edelman in the Chinese mainland as the dual-circulation development pattern encourages full exploitation of market potential and freer flow of goods across regions.

       The dual-circulation pattern is all about internal economic circulation acting as the mainstay of economic growth from now on even though the domestic and external markets complement each other.

       “We will also introduce domestic brands in China to the global market, especially to the markets of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,” he said.

       The group’s business scope in China covers more than a dozen industries, including apparel, logistics, fisheries and real estate. As China has recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic in an exceptional manner, Skechers saw its sales surge almost 29.7% year-on-year in 2020. The company entered China in 2008 and now runs nearly 3,000 stores, including over 300 superstores.

       The past year has been a turning point for China and its vast markets in the world. The country has increasingly brought the Covid-19 pandemic under control; the introduction of dual-circulation development pattern will further combine self-sustainability domestically with higher added value in exports, said Tan, noting this serves as a strategic measure that matches the current conditions in China.

       All 15 members of the RCEP are planning to ratify the agreement before the end of this year and push for it to take effect on Jan 1.

       Tan said the company will benefit from the RCEP, and should be able to make full use of the resources from the agreement’s footprint in its production activities.

       “It will be easier for the products to obtain the original qualification of the contracting countries, and finally enjoy more preferential tariff rates and special trade treatment,” he said. ― China Daily/ANN