According to Carrefour's half-year results presented on Wednesday, the Belgian market has become the fastest-growing market in Europe for the French supermarket chain. Sales in Belgium

experienced a remarkable rise of 12.5 percent in the second quarter compared to the same period last year. Over the first six months of the year, overall growth reached 11.3 percent.

In today's press release, the company stated, "The commercial initiatives are starting to bear fruit, and Carrefour is the brand gaining the most market share (like-for-like) in the second quarter." The supermarket sector in Belgium has witnessed significant social unrest in recent months, with strikes at Delhaize and Mestdagh Group opposing the franchising plans of both chains.

Carrefour's turnover in Belgium reached 2.255 billion euros, surpassing the company's turnover in Italy, which was 2.166 billion euros.

In France, Carrefour's home country, sales grew by 7.2% in the first half of the year. Sales in the rest of Europe increased by 8.1 percent, and in Latin America, the growth was even more substantial, reaching 21 percent. The group's total revenues amounted to 45.5 billion euros. However, the current operating profit was slightly lower than last year, standing at 700 million euros (-2.2 percent). The integration costs related to Grupo BIG in Brazil weighed on the result. Nevertheless, thanks to the sale of its operations in Taiwan, the group recorded a higher net profit, which reached 867 million euros. Photo by François GOGLINS, Wikimedia commons.