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Turnover grew by 19% between 2011 and 2013, business income doubled and the financial burden did not exceed 1% in agricultural cooperatives

The Cajamar Cooperative Agro Chair of the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT) has just published the document Financial Diagnosis economic and agri-cooperatives in Spain (2011-2013), result of work by a team of researchers composed of Narciso Arcas, Director of the Chair, Domingo Garcia, Maria del Carmen Martinez and Maria Luz Maté, teachers UPCT.

The aim of this study was to shed light on the current situation of the Spanish agri-cooperatives from the business perspective (growth and profitability) and financial (liquidity and debt levels).

"Essential to establish strategies for competitiveness and business development themes, but which hardly any information available to date," said Arcas.

To do this, it has been statistically processed a sample of 981 cooperatives and agricultural processing companies across the country, considering characterization factors such as size, age, sub-sector and type of activity.

"The analysis confirms the good performance and favorable developments, in general, all the economic indicators of the cooperative sector in the most difficult years of the crisis, and provides managers and managers of business associations standardized guidelines to know your strengths and weaknesses, so its possible to correct internal imbalances, "adds the researcher UPCT.

In Spain it operates 17% of agri-cooperatives in the EU, more than 3,800 1,200,000 grouping partners generate 96,000 direct jobs and a turnover of over 26,000 million a year, representing 60% of the Final agricultural production, pinpoints the study.

"The dynamism of the cooperative sector makes it a real engine

of our productive reality and one of the fundamental tools to strengthen the international competitiveness of our agri-food sector, "the authors emphasize.

During the reporting period, total revenue increased by 18.8% and the average size of cooperatives by 21.9%.

However, the number of entities registered a decline of 2.6%, confirming that the process of concentration in the sector continues.

The largest credit unions, which represent 1% of the total, account for more than 30% of total turnover, with an average annual volume of business in excess of 100 million.

Sales and assets of cooperatives have increased steadily between 2011 and 2013 and maintaining employment levels and earning levels of competitiveness and efficiency.

"It is very remarkable that the operating margin on sales has gone from 0.62% to 1.63% in just three years. In addition, most cooperatives have excellent liquidity position, reducing the risk of suffer financial stress. the financial burden is relatively small and on average does not exceed 1%, "the researchers emphasize.

The Cajamar Chair of Cooperative Agroalimentario of the Polytechnic University of Cartagena is one of the oldest network initiatives chairs of the first Spanish rural savings bank, which aims contacting the knowledge generated in universities with the needs of the real economy, and that is also present in the Polytechnic Universities of Madrid and Valencia, and Almeria campuses, Miguel Hernandez de Elche, Las Palmas and La Laguna.

Since its establishment in late 2008, the Cajamar Chair of the UPCT has coordinated training activities and research projects focused on the promotion of cooperatives and the food industry, which have helped dozens of researchers, professionals and students, and has published monographs reference as government agri-cooperatives.

Success Factors (2012);

Size and competitiveness.

Growth experiences in the Spanish agri-cooperatives (2014);

and the latest Social economy and online business.

Trends and key success (2015).

Source: UPCT