Three Argentine cooperatives have slipped into the ranking of the 300 largest internationally, according to the World Cooperative Monitor, produced annually by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) and the European research institute Euricse. Y there are four if the measure taken is corporate income divided by per capita GDPa way to assess the relative weight of each cooperative in your country.
In the general classification, the first two Argentines that appear are agro-industries: HERE (Association of Argentine Cooperatives) e AFA (Argentine federated farmers, in positions 125 and 253, respectively. Both are down from last year’s standings, when they were at 117 and 242.
Third, there’s the Credicoop Bankalso dropped from 230 to 296, but remains in the top 300.
Argentine companies do better in the Observatory’s second ranking, the one that takes account of billing in relation to per capita GDP. In this list, the first three climb to positions 31, 76 and 93 and a fourth cooperative is added: the Sancor insurance group, with position 216.
If only the agri-food sector is taken into account, ACA stands out in ninth place. It is a “cooperative of cooperatives”, made up of more than 139 farms and 50,000 producers from Salta, Santiago del Estero, Chaco, Misiones, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Entre Ríos, San Luis, La Pampa, Río Negro, Buenos Aires and more of 550 locations.
The Agricultural Credit de France continues to lead the overall standings, while the cooperative of agricultural producers Selfco, of India, remains in the lead, according to GDP per capita.
In America, behind Argentina is Canada, with 8 cooperatives, and then Brazil (9) and the United States (71), the country with the highest number of companies of this type, according to the ranking. The others with the largest amount are France, Germany and Japan.
If the measurement is in relation to GDP per capita, other countries in the region are also measured. The United States also leads with this methodology, but with 38 cooperatives, followed by Brazil (22), Colombia (11), Canada (7), Argentina (4), Costa Rica, Mexico and Uruguay, with one each.
In the world, the type of cooperative that predominates are those formed by producers (40%), followed by mutuals (29%), consumers (25%), non-cooperative companies controlled by cooperatives (4%), workers and others.
As for the sectors, that of agro-industry and food is the one that brings together the largest number of cooperatives. In this area, in addition to the Argentine ones, there are companies known all over the world, such as the Fonterra and Arla dairies.
This is followed by insurance, wholesale and retail trade, financial services, industry and utilities, and education, among others. Rabobank is another of the better known cooperatives.
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Source: Clarin
