The world's two largest retail giants, Wal-Mart and Carrefour, plan to sell medicine in their chain stores later this year, reported the Beijing News.

Xu Jun, an official overseeing Wal-Mart's north China public relations, was quoted as saying that Wal-Mart has been in close contact with the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on the medicine retailbusiness, although it has not yet applied for any license.

He affirmed that medicine sales will be covered in the world's largest retailer's distribution network. Before that, Wal-Mart China said it began to sell over-the-counter (OTC) medicine, such as vitamins, at the end of last year.

The world's second largest retailer France's Carrefour was alsoreported it has a similar plan, but said it has to report to the MOC before getting license from the State Food and Drug Administration.

Medicine sale in supermarkets is not uncommon in China. Supermarkets such as Watsons and Japan's 7-11 all sell vitamins and supplement nutritional medicine.

Faced with possible presence of the giant two, local pharmaciesseemed to take it easy, said the newspaper.

Liu Qifeng, deputy general manager of the Beijing-based Deweizhi Grand Pharmacy, said that more retailers coming into the business will intensify the competition and also help regulate themarket.

Although retailers are economically powerful and have many distribution channels, they normally act only as a supplement to traditional pharmacies. The varieties of OTC medicines for sale are few and generally not subject to basic medical insurance, Liu said.

Moreover, consumers hope to get professional guidance at pharmacies, he said.

Still, with an increasingly affluent population emerging in China, Wal-Mart and Carrefour are determined to expand in China asthe former plans to open 12 to 15 new stores in China this year and the latter aims to open 15 hypermarkets a year in China.

Source: Xinhua