SHANGHAI -- Starbucks' new global CEO Laxman Narasimhan on Tuesday highlighted China's huge market potential and suggested the company's goal of opening 9,000 stores on the Chinese mainland by 2025 remained unchanged.

China's per capita coffee consumption is increasing but still lags far behind Japan and the United States, thus leaving much room for business growth, Narasimhan said during his visit to Shanghai, home to more than 1,000 Starbucks stores, which is more than any other city in the world.

The US coffee giant opened its first store on the Chinese mainland in 1999. As of April 2, it had operated over 6,200 stores across 244 cities on the Chinese mainland.

Despite the impact of COVID-19, the company last year revealed plans to increase its store count on the Chinese mainland to 9,000 by 2025.