Starbucks Corp. plans to accelerate its expansion in China, shrugging off concerns about a slowdown in the coffee chain’s second-largest market behind the U.S. and a potential further depreciation of the yuan. The company plans to add about 500 new stores in the year ending Sept. 27, up from 450 new outlets in the previous year. China is Starbucks’ fastest-growing market. “We have no intention of slowing down and we remain very optimistic and bullish on the opportunities that Starbucks has in China, both in the short term as well as in the long term,” John Culver, Starbucks President of the China and Asia-Pacific region, said in a telephone interview Tuesday. Starbucks joins SAP SE, the world’s biggest maker of business-management software, in expressing optimism about China, betting on a sales boost as consumption and corporate spending grows even as a decline in the yuan would erode the value of profits they generate in the country. Volatility seen in China’s stock market is common among emerging markets and can create opportunities, Asia’s richest man Wang Jianlin said Tuesday, after announcing the $3.5 billion takeover of Hollywood film company Legendary Entertainment by his Dalian Wanda Group Co. Concerns over China’s economy have hurt markets from Shanghai to New York, with government officials pushing back against expectations of a continued rapid depreciation of the yuan to prop up the slowing economy. The People’s Bank of China repeatedly intervened in the overseas yuan market Tuesday, according to people familiar with the matter, as the currency tumbled to a five-year low against the U.S. dollar. Currency Risks “We deal in 70 countries around the world, and foreign currencies change and fluctuate in all countries,” said Culver, who’s in the western city of Chengdu with Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz. Starbucks hasn’t seen any impact on its operations due to the recent yuan volatility, he said, declining to comment on how the coffee chain hedges against the currency’s slide. Seattle-based Starbucks had said last January it actively hedges against foreign exchange risks, and was able to offset the impact of a stronger U.S. dollar. As U.S.-based restaurant chains including McDonald’s Corp. and Yum! Brands Inc. face difficulties in China including from food safety issues and rising competition from local chains, Starbucks is instead speeding up its expansion plans. Starbucks is seeing growth not just from new Chinese customers but also existing ones increasing the frequency of their visits, said Culver. "This tells us that we are becoming part of their daily ritual," he said. The company’s new stores opened in fiscal year 2015 have outperformed the average of those in the last seven years, he said. The company’s China expansion plans echo those of other consumer companies such as Swedish clothing chain Hennes & Mauritz AB and Uniqlo-maker Fast Retailing Co., which have voiced confidence about adding to their exposure to the country despite its economic slowdown. “If China sneezes the world gets some kind of cold but I wouldn’t bet against China,” SAP CEO Bill McDermott said at a briefing in Singapore on Monday, before the German software maker reported sales that topped analysts’ estimates. Given Asia’s rising middle class and the creation of jobs that will take place, “we have to be focused on this almost single- handedly,” he said.