Kooperativa Förbundet (KF, the Swedish Co-operative Union) was founded in 1899, initiated by 41 local consumer cooperatives, and is headquartered in Solna, Stockholm. It is the national union and retail group for Sweden's consumer cooperatives, centred on daily-goods retail under the Coop brand, and also engaged in property and media businesses, among others. According to its data, KF unites dozens of regional consumer cooperatives, behind which stand several million individual members. KF is a member of the International Co-operative Alliance and ranks among the leaders in the World Cooperative Monitor's global top 300 cooperatives by turnover.
Supplementary Reference Material
Reference period: 2013年前后
Materials compiled from Sino-foreign exchange visits indicate that Sweden has a long history of cooperatives, with cooperatives emerging in the mid-nineteenth century and national cooperative organisations founded in the late nineteenth century, spanning food, clothing, everyday goods, agricultural production, finance and insurance, housing construction, bioenergy and tourism services, among other fields. The materials note that the KF consumer cooperative is one of Sweden's major retail organisations, with turnover accounting for about 21.5% of the Swedish retail market. The materials also show that Sweden's cooperative system emphasises staying close to local members' needs, with agricultural, financial and insurance cooperatives providing production services, loans and insurance support to farms through localised operations.
Note: this section is compiled mainly from materials gathered during exchange visits between Chinese and international cooperative organisations, and does not represent an official position. Because it draws on first-hand exchanges and observed institutional practice, it is offered as contextual reference material.