Best Buy Co, the largest US consumer-electronics chain, said it plans to add as many as 10 stores in China in the next 18 months, seeking to counter slowing sales at home.

"We invest in China for the millennium," said Robert Willett, chief executive of the company's international division, at a briefing in Shanghai today. The new sites will be located in and around Shanghai, he said.

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Best Buy last June bought control of Jiangsu Five Star Appliance Co, China's fourth-largest electronics retailer, for $180 million. The costs of the acquisition helped contribute to its lower-than-expected first-quarter earnings and smallest sales growth in three quarters. The Richfield, Minneapolis-based retailer opened its first own-branded China store in Shanghai in January.

China's retail sales may grow by about 14 percent this year, the Ministry of Commerce said in a research report released early this month. Retail sales increased 13.7 percent in 2006.

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