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T Carrefour Indonesia, one of the country’s largest retailers, plans to open between five and 10 new outlets this year to support the company’s growing retail business in the country, a company executive has said.

Corporate Affairs Director, Adji Srihandoyo said that after focusing in Java over the past several years, the French retailer would build more outlets outside Java particularly in eastern parts of the country.

 “This year we will not only focus on expanding our network of stores in Java but also in eastern Indonesia,” Adji told reporters in Jakarta last week.

One of the company’s latest outlets was opened in the Solo Paragon Mall, Surakarta, Central Java in January. With this, the company has now opened 85 outlets since its entry into Indonesia in 1996. Of these 85, only nine stores are located outside Java; four stores in Makassar, two stores in Medan, two in Batam and one in Palembang.

According to Carrefour Indonesia Head of Public Affairs Satria Hamid, Carrefour is now in the process of searching for new locations in eastern Indonesia namely Manado, Balikpapan, Pontianak and Banjarmasin. The retail giant also plans to open a new store in Pekan Baru, Sumatera.

“We have plans to expand our business outside Java. However, there are so many components that we have to consider when we are about to open a new store, such as the population, product distribution, human resources and local regulations,” said Satria.

In 2010, 40 percent of shares in Carrefour Indonesia were acquired by the CT Corporation through Trans Ritel, a company that is owned by Chairul Tanjung. As the majority shareholder, Tanjung has shown an interest in acquiring the remaining 60 percent of shares, which are owned by Carrefour SA (39 percent), Carrefour Nederland BV (9.5 percent) and Onesia BV (11.5 percent).

As a part of its 2012 corporate social responsibility program, Carrefour will cooperate with the Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Ministry and seven universities in Indonesia, including the University of Indonesia, Airlangga University and Parahyangan University, to assist 100 cooperatives and SMEs in seven cities in Indonesia. The program is set to kick off on April 18.

Satria said Carrefour France had injected 62,925 euro (US$83,950) of funds for a capacity-building program of cooperatives and SMEs so that they would be able to produce better quality products.

 “SMEs that join the program and meet the criteria of Carrefour suppliers are welcome to join us. We would like to be the storehouse for SMEs; 70 percent of our suppliers are SMEs and 95 percent of our products are local,” Satria told the reporters.

In addition, Carrefour also cooperates with local farmers and fishermen through its program dubbed Carrefour Quality Line (CQL) that helps to distribute fresh commodities overseas using Carrefour’s worldwide connections.

“We meet with local farmers and fishermen and verify the excellence of their products such as apples, shrimps and salmon, so we can help them export to supply Carrefour stores overseas,” said Satria. (nad)