Singapore-listed Chinese developer CentraLand <CTLL.SI> is shifting its focus to wholesale malls from residences, banking on the country’s fast-growing domestic trade as development moves inland from coastal areas.

The company plans to acquire existing wholesale malls or buy mature sites for development, said Chief Financial Officer Raymond Ho, following last month’s partnership with private equity firm Warburg Pincus [WP.UL].

CentraLand said last month said Warburg Pincus will invest 650 million yuan ($127.5 million) in a joint venture that will hold two specialty wholesale malls being developed by the Chinese firm.

The private equity firm has an option to invest another 650 million yuan in the joint venture in the next 30 months and may inject three of its wholesale mall assets into the venture, Ho said.

“With China opening up only about 25 years ago, most of the wholesale trade had grown organically with no proper planning. As such, almost all of the trading hubs have poor infrastructure which are unable to support the exponential growth of domestic trade,” Ho told Reuters in an interview.

Wholesale malls are places where small retailers shop for goods from manufacturers and wholesalers.

Ho said CentraLand will focus on this category of real estate and will no longer “actively seek out” other residential projects after it completes a high-end housing development in Henan Province.

The firm, which is based in Zhengzhou city, the capital of Henan in central China, has one completed wholesale mall, J-Expo I, and has five more projects in the pipeline.

To fund its expansion plans, CentraLand is on the lookout for opportunities to raise funds through partnerships with key investors.

Amongst the five properties CentraLand is developing is a wholesale mall that caters to the fashion market, which is expected to be completed in about five years, Ho said. “As the government seeks to promote economic growth in the western region, the central region becomes increasingly important as a base to springboard into these new markets,” he added.

Moreover, the lack of supply of wholesale malls in China will also help support rental rates. Ho estimated that there was a shortage of about 20,000 shop units for the fashion trade alone.

“With no new supply coming online in the short to medium term, demand for shop units will grow exponentially and drive prices up,” he said.

Shares of CentraLand, which has a market capitalisation of US$634 million ($830 mllion), were flat at $0.45 on Friday, and have lost 10% so far this year.