OTTAWA – In 1994, the Canadian co-operative sector had never looked so healthy, according to federal government records.
Memberships were up by more than 150,000 from a year earlier, the volume of business increased more than eight percent in the year and the value of assets grew by more than half a billion dollars.
Yet the annual report of the federal Co-operatives Secretariat, detailing the sector in 1994, also showed some decline. In most agricultural sectors, the market share held by co-operatives is falling.
Between 1993 and 1994, the co-op share of the grains and oilseeds market in the West fell three percentage points to 52.
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During the previous five years, it had fallen 22 percentage points from 75 percent because United Grain Growers is no longer a co-operative. Even removing the UGG factor, the market share held by co-ops is falling.
Livestock grows
In 1994, that was true in almost all commodities except livestock, where the co-op presence in the market rose to 22 percent from 21 percent.
According to the annual report on co-ops for 1994, the last year for which statistics are available:
- The value of business done by farm produce marketing co-ops rose by more than 13 percent to $10.8 billion.
- For the total co-op sector, the business volume was $22.3 billion, up $1.7 billion in a year.
- Membership in co-ops increased by more than 150,000 to 4.26 million Canadians.
- At year’s end, assets owned by co-ops had grown to $12.88 billion.
The secretariat, housed within Agriculture Canada, reported that producer marketing and processing co-ops remain a major part of the Canadian economy.
“Altogether, they represent a major economic force with a volume of business of more than $10.1 billion and assets of $3.3 billion, of which $1.3 billion is financed by member capital,” said the report. “They paid out $527 million in salaries and wages to nearly 18,000 full-time employees in 1994.”
It noted that co-ops had market share varying from four percent for eggs to 61 percent for dairy.
