Tesco, one of the world's largest retailers, plans to expand the number of its property-owned stores to 15 to 20 in South China within the next five years, a senior company manager said.

"We will continue the policy to buy land and build our own properties in China," said Chen Pei, operation manager of Tesco Property Limited.

After entering China in 2004, the Britain chain store established its property business in China in 2008, the company sources said.

The retailer just opened a large shopping mall in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, on April 28. It became the company's ninth property-owned store in China.

"Building property-owned shopping malls will help us to maintain sustainable development in China amid a fierce retailing industry," Chen said.