SHENZHEN - Wal-Mart (China) late Thursday apologized to customers after being blacklisted by Chinese authorities for cheating on prices.

The Wal-Mart (China) Investment Co., Ltd. expressed "sincere apology" to affected customers in a written interview with Xinhua.

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Further, the company has been cooperating with authorities' investigation into the cheating. It has also launched self-examinations in stores nationwide.

As the Spring Festival approaches, the company will strengthen its price monitoring, the company said.

The company, which entered China in 1996 and has opened 189 stores in 101 cities across the country, promised to continue the self-examination regularly. Its 700 price inspectors perform millions of examinations weekly.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner and price regulator, said Wednesday that some Carrefour and Wal-Mart stores in China are involved in deceptive pricing practices.

The NDRC ordered local pricing authorities to urge involved stores to correct wrongdoing, and pay fines five times the illegal income. Their ill-gotten money will be confiscated and those that cannot calculate their illegal income will pay a fine of up to 500,000 yuan.($75,987).

Carrefour "sincerely apologies" and offered to refund customers five times the difference between the price charged and that on the label, China Daily said, citing a statement from the company late Wednesday.

An investigation into the price cheating had been launched in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, as it continues in Shanghai.

One case was found in the Carrefour store in Tianheyuan Village in the city. A kind of rubber gloves was sold for 0.4 yuan (about $0.06) higher than the price on the label here.