The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) and the European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises (Euricse) released the 2022 edition of the World Cooperative Monitor (WCM) on 1 December. A webinar was organised in collaboration with the ICA International Cooperative Entrepreneurship Think Tank (ICETT) to release the report of the Top 300 rankings of the world’s largest cooperatives and mutuals and a special focus on the challenges of digitalization.
This year’s report is the 11th edition and marks the second decade of the project. Each year, the WCM produces a robust database that shows the economic importance of the cooperative business model and the global impact cooperatives and mutuals have on their members and communities. This is accomplished by building on years of research and data collection, and continually refining and improving the methodology to produce an annual WCM. The 2022 edition focuses on large cooperatives and digitalization with a feature on the challenges cooperatives face in the evolving digitalisation world. The last two editions of the WCM revealed the impact of COVID-19 on the cooperative community. The team sought to investigate how the pandemic prompted the use of digital tools, particularly as it pertains to member engagement and cooperative identity. The results, found in a dedicated chapter in the WCM, discuss how much these tools were used, and the pros and cons of moving towards increased digitalization.
The world's top 300 cooperatives and mutuals reported a total turnover of around 2,171 billion USD, based on 2020 financial data. It features rankings based on two criteria - Top 300 ranking based on turnover featuring 41 cooperatives from the Asia and Pacific region, and Top 300 ranking based on the ratio of turnover over the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita featuring 53 cooperatives from the Asia and Pacific region.
In the Top 10 rankings based on turnover, the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations - ZEN-NOH and Nippon Life from Japan, and Nonghyup (National Agricultural Cooperative Federation - NACF) from the Republic of Korea have secured the 4th, 7th, and 9th ranks respectively. In the Top 10 rankings based on the ratio of turnover over GDP per capita, Indian Farmers’ Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd. – IFFCO and Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (AMUL) from India, ZEN-NOH from Japan, and Nonghyup from the Republic of Korea have secured the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th ranks respectively.
These organizations operate in various economic sectors like
- Agriculture and Food Industries - features 4 coops from Japan, Korea, and New Zealand in Top 10 rankings by Turnover and 5 coops from India, Japan, and Korea in Top 10 rankings by Turnover/GDP per capita.
- Industry and Utilities - features 1 coop from Japan in Top 10 rankings by Turnover and 2 coops from India and Japan in Top 10 rankings by Turnover/GDP per capita.
- Insurance - features 4 coops from Japan in Top 10 rankings by Turnover and in Top 10 rankings by Turnover/GDP per capita.
- Financial Services - features 1 coop from Japan in Top 10 rankings by Turnover.
- Education, Health and Social Work - features 2 coops from Japan in Top 10 rankings by Turnover and 1 coop from Japan in Top 10 rankings by Turnover/GDP per capita.
Going forward, the ICA and Euricse will focus on collecting more and different data, said their representatives during the launch webinar. Mr. Bruno Roelants also called on national apexes to help elevate the Monitor even more by collecting and sharing more data.
The full report is available here and the webinar can be watched here.
