About the CENTROSOYUZ

The Central Union of Consumer Societies of the Russian Federation (Centrosoyuz of Russia) is a non-profit organization, which is a voluntary association of representatives of Russian consumer societies. It is the supreme coordinating body of consumer cooperatives.

CENTROSOYUZ OF RUSSIA LEADS THE SYSTEM OF CONSUMER COOPERATIves THAT FEATURES A MORE THAN 186-YEAR HISTORY, AND COMPRISES ABOUT 2.6 THOUSAND CONSUMER SOCIETIES AND 2.5 MLN SHAREHOLDERS IN MORE THAN 70 REGIONS OF THE COUNTRY.

The activities of cooperative organizations are concentrated mainly in rural areas: they actively participate in the creation of the rural social infrastructure and life support of residents of 89 thousand settlements, 54 thousand of which have less than 100 inhabitants. Organizations of consumer cooperation within the system of Centrosoyuz of Russia are also direct employers for about 200 thousand people across the country.

Cooperative enterprises produce a wide range of goods, both food (non-alcoholic beverages, bread and confectionery, canned food and semi-finished products, meat and dairy products) and non-food goods (materials for repair and construction, woolen and fur products, etc.). In personal farmsteads of organizations and in farms located in ecologically clean areas of the country, cooperators harvest medicinal herbs, fresh and dried mushrooms and berries; grow vegetables, fruits and grain; breed cattle, sheep, horses, pigs and poultry. In total, the Centrosoyuz’ system comprises about 5 thousand production workshops, 16.5 thousand production purchase and storage facilities, as well as about 40 thousand retail trade enterprises and 5 thousand catering establishments for the sale of food stuffs. In addition, on the basis of over 13 thousand stationary and mobile workshops, consumer cooperation organizations provide the population with agricultural, domestic and construction services.

THE TOTAL VOLUME OF CENTROSOYUZ’ ACTIVITIES IS CLOSE TO 234 bln rubles
(WITH A WHOLESALE AND RETAIL TRADE TURNOVER OF ABOUT 165 BLN RUBLES)

Consumer cooperation in Russia is not only products and services. It has its own system of education, which includes two higher educational institutions established by Centrosoyuz (the Russian University of Cooperation and the Siberian University of Consumer Cooperatives) with 18 branches across Russia, as well as over 50 special educational institutions. The total number of students of cooperation educational institutions exceeds 90 thousand people, and Centrosoyuz regularly participates in Help in sales aimed at improving the quality of education and implementing the professional potential of students. In addition, Centrosoyuz has its own health care system: rest and treatment in one of the Centrosoyuz’ sanatoriums or medical institutions are available to all comers, although its shareholders enjoy some privileges. Finally, Centrosoyuz includes other organizations of different profiles.