China's Supply and Marketing Cooperatives
Understanding China's Supply and Marketing Cooperatives
China's largest network of agricultural services and cooperative economic organisation: what it is, how it operates, which institutions and platforms make it up, and which themes and cases are worth watching — a concise guide, with the international cooperative movement as a point of comparison.
01
Start with the system
Structure from the national federation down to grassroots cooperatives, and the dual-line model of operation
02
See who to watch
The institutions, platforms and regional cases most worth tracking over time
03
Track by theme
Eight themes, from agricultural input supply and socialised services to farm-produce market access
04
See representative cases
Explained through mechanisms, not news summaries
ACFSMC · News and Strategy
The 8th National Congress and the 15th Five-Year Plan: Direction for the Next Five Years
In November 2025, the 8th National Congress of the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives convened to review the 14th Five-Year period, set out the agenda for the 15th Five-Year period, and define development goals through 2030 — the key to understanding where China's supply and marketing cooperatives are headed.
8.6%
Average annual growth in total sales during the 14th Five-Year period
1,472
Federation-owned enterprises with revenue above RMB 100 million
≈70%
Share of national fertiliser supply
300 mn+ mu-instances
Annual scale of socialised agricultural services
Nine Priority Tasks for the 15th Five-Year Period
Agricultural input supply securitySocialised agricultural servicesA modern circulation systemFarm-produce market accessRenewable-resources recyclingInstitutionalised assistanceNew productive forcesDeepening comprehensive reformStrengthening Party leadership
Goals for 2030
By 2030: core businesses are to improve across the board in quality and efficiency; the system is to be firmly established as the main channel for agricultural-input circulation, the national backbone of socialised agricultural services, a major platform for farm-produce sales, and a leading force in renewable-resources recycling; primary cooperatives are to be tied more closely to farmers' interests; and comprehensive reform is to make further breakthroughs, so that the “separation of cooperative and enterprise, connected top to bottom” dual-line mechanism works more efficiently.
Source: work report of the 8th National Congress (publicly available). For reports on ACFSMC, chinacoop.gov.cn is the authoritative source.
System Structure
System map and guide →All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives (ACFSMC)
National federation · apex body and industry-guidance hub of the system
↓
Provincial Supply and Marketing Cooperatives
32 provincial-level federations · regional coordination
↓
Prefectural / County Supply and Marketing Cooperatives
The connecting tier · county federations are the key pivot for business and services
↓
Primary Cooperatives / Village Comprehensive Service Cooperatives
The frontline serving farmers directly
Federation-owned enterprises
Business entities capitalised by federations at each level (agricultural inputs, circulation, cold chain, recycling, etc.), forming the market-facing business line
Sectoral associations
Specialised associations for cotton, tea, fruit, agricultural inputs and more, providing industry organisation and services
Platform companies
Such as China Coop E-commerce (the “832 Platform”), handling e-commerce, procurement and digitalisation functions
Services-for-Agriculture Centres
County- and township-level service hubs that deliver socialised agricultural services
Who to Watch
Full watch list (26) →All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives (ACFSMC)
The authoritative starting point for understanding the whole system: policy, reform initiatives and the system-wide picture are all released here.
China Coop Group Co., Ltd.
The flagship group among federation-owned enterprises, showing how the cooperatives run their core business through corporate entities.
China Cooperation Times
The system's only national-level media outlet and a first-hand source on industry developments and reform cases; its titles include China Cooperative Economy and China Agri-input.
The 832 Platform (China Coop E-commerce)
Guided by four bodies — the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the former National Rural Revitalization Administration and ACFSMC — it channels government procurement of farm produce from formerly poverty-stricken counties; the flagship platform for farm-produce market access and consumption-based poverty alleviation.
Sinoagri Group (China Agricultural Means of Production Group)
The core main channel for agricultural-input supply security, and the key force behind the system's roughly 70% share of national fertiliser supply.
Coop Cold Chain / Farm-produce Wholesale Market System
A public-type network of cold-chain logistics and wholesale markets for farm produce — the infrastructure that keeps goods flowing smoothly.
China Renewable Resources Development (Zaisheng)
The leading national enterprise for recycling and reusing renewable resources, linking the circular economy with the integration of recycling and urban-rural sanitation networks.
Zhejiang Supply and Marketing Cooperative / Zhejiang Xinghe Group
A benchmark for the marketisation of federation-owned enterprises: Xinghe Group posted about RMB 185.7 billion in revenue in 2024, ranking among China's Top 500 Enterprises.
Shandong Supply and Marketing Cooperative / Swan Cotton Machinery
A representative case of domesticating farm machinery and emergency socialised services (Swan Cotton Machinery's high-end cotton pickers broke a foreign monopoly).
Henan Supply and Marketing Cooperative
A large-scale case of building Services-for-Agriculture Centres (with RMB 30 million in annual provincial-fiscal support, 932 centres have been built).
Hebei Supply and Marketing Cooperative
A socialised agricultural-service system linking the provincial, prefectural and county tiers, with large-scale farmland trusteeship (about 7.29 million mu).
Xinjiang Supply and Marketing Cooperative / China Cotton & Yarn Exchange
A key node in the cotton industry and its circulation (co-built with ACFSMC as the China Cotton & Yarn Exchange).
Thematic Watch
All themes →Agricultural Input Supply Security
Stable supply of fertiliser and other agricultural inputs bears directly on food security, making it the cooperatives' most public-facing core business. The coop system supplies about 70% of the nation's fertiliser.
Socialised Agricultural Services
Addressing “who will farm the land and how,” the system connects smallholders to modern agriculture through farmland trusteeship, integrated plant protection, and drying and storage. The target is to exceed 400 million mu-instances of service by the end of the 15th Five-Year period.
County-level Circulation and Rural Commerce
Rebuilding the county–township–village three-tier circulation network, handling the two-way flow of industrial goods into rural areas and farm produce into cities — the backbone of a modern rural commercial system.
Farm-produce Market Access and the 832 Platform
Aggregating dispersed farm produce and connecting it with large markets and government procurement is key to raising farmer incomes and delivering consumption-based assistance.
Cold-chain Logistics and Wholesale Markets
Reducing farm-produce losses and stabilising the “vegetable basket” supply requires public circulation infrastructure such as cold chains and wholesale markets.
Renewable Resources and the Circular Economy
The coop system handles the recycling of renewable resources, linking the circular economy with the integration of urban-rural sanitation networks, supporting trade-in programmes and the green transition.
Federation-owned Enterprises and Cooperative-economy Governance
How the “separation of cooperative and enterprise, connected top to bottom” dual-line mechanism operates determines the vitality and direction of the cooperatives, involving oversight of federation-owned assets, modern corporate governance and federation governance.
International Cooperation and Comparative Cooperative Studies
The cooperatives participate in international cooperative affairs (elected a vice-chair organisation of the ICA Asia-Pacific region) and pursue economic and trade cooperation under the Belt and Road framework — offering an entry point for comparing China's and the world's cooperative economies.
Representative Cases
Case library →Emergency Harvesting and Drying in the Huang-Huai-Hai Region
Prolonged autumn rain threatened grain with mould and made harvesting difficult
The 832 Platform's Consumption-based Assistance
Farm produce from formerly poverty-stricken areas faced difficulty selling and mismatches between production and sales
Hebei's Three-tier Farmland Trusteeship
Fragmented smallholdings made scaling up difficult