INTERNATIONAL Dairy Queen Inc, part of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway family, plans to open another 500 stores in the next five years in China to quench the increasing appetite for ice cream that has made it the hottest market for global expansion.

"By the end of 2016, we aim to operate 2,000 stores outside America and Canada, with at least 1,000 located in China," John Gainor, president and CEO of IDQ, said yesterday at a ceremony celebrating its 500th Chinese store in Shanghai. Since 2005 the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based ice cream chain has been accelerating its China expansion and this high-growth market is now only second to North America in strategic importance.

Following an annual growth of over 15 percent of the Chinese frozen food industry since the 1990s the revenue of China's ice cream market may exceed 40 billion yuan (US$6.4 billion) this year.

But there is a great potential to increase the current annual consumption per capita of 2.3 liters, which ranks 14th globally, as it still lags behind those of the Western markets.