(Yicai Global) May 4 -- Starbucks plans to increase the number of coffee outlets it has on the Chinese mainland, its second biggest market in the world, at a quicker pace as sales expanded at a faster-than-expected clip in the latest fiscal quarter amid a rebound in coffee consumption now that the zero-Covid policy has been lifted.

The Chinese market recovered much faster than expected in the second fiscal quarter, and this momentum may extend into the third fiscal quarter, Belinda Wong, chairwoman and chief executive officer of Starbucks China, said at the earnings call held on the release of its most recent financial report on May 2.

"We are ready to accelerate even faster on new store growth in the second half of the year," Wong said. The Seattle-based firm is aiming to operate 9,000 outlets in the country by 2025. At present it has 6,200.

Starbucks logged a 11 percent jump in revenue to CNY763.8 million (USD110.5 million) in China in the fiscal quarter ended April 2 from a year earlier, after deducting the impact of exchange rate translations, the company said. And its comparable store sales in the country ticked up by 3 percent, the first growth since the third quarter of the fiscal year 2021.

Starbucks will be seeking to keep up with rival Luckin Coffee, which added 1,137 outlets in the first quarter, bringing the total to 9,351.

Xiamen, southeastern Fujian province-based Luckin Coffee is bouncing back after being fined USD180 million last year for accounting fraud by US authorities. Net profit soared more than 28-fold in the first quarter year on year to CNY564.8 million (USD81.6 million), while revenue surged 84.5 percent to CNY4.4 billion (USD636.4 million), according to its annual report published on May 1.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Kim Taylor