People visit the booth of Starbucks at the China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 28, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

Starbucks has set new records by opening 790 net new stores and entering 166 new county-level markets on the Chinese mainland in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 29, 2024, despite a decline in its global comparable store sales, the company said in its annual fiscal report Thursday.

In its fiscal fourth quarter (Q4), Starbucks' global comparable store sales declined 7 percent year on year, driven by an 8-percent decline in comparable transactions. In the Chinese market, the company's comparable store sales declined 14 percent, driven by an 8-percent decline in average ticket and a 6-percent decline in comparable transactions.

Despite the downward store sales, the U.S. coffee giant added 290 new stores to its footprint on the Chinese mainland in Q4, which took up over 40 percent of its 722 newly opened stores globally.

This has brought the total number of Starbucks stores on the Chinese mainland to 7,596, covering about one-third of all the county-level markets in the world's second largest economy.

At the end of Q4, stores in the United States and China comprised 61 percent of the company's global portfolio, the company said.

In recent years, county-level markets have become the "blue ocean" for coffee consumption in China. Starbucks' continuous expansion demonstrates its confidence in the Chinese coffee market, according to food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng.

Stressing that Starbucks' business remains strong and resilient, Molly Liu, chief executive officer of Starbucks China, noted that the company stays committed to long-term development in the Chinese market.