NACF-ACFSMC Signs MOU on Mutual Cooperation

This is a translated version of a Korean article released by Nongmin Newspapers on the 18th December, 2017.

During President Moon Jaein’s state visit to China, the Chairman of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF) and the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives (ACFSMC) agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support entrance into the Chinese agricultural market.

The NACF announced that they signed an MOU with the ACFSMC on the 12th of December in Beijing to expand cooperation among cooperatives on areas including export of agricultural goods and agri-finance businesses. For the past years the cooperation businesses between the two agricultural cooperatives have been sluggish due to the THAAD tension existing between Korean and China.

Following the MOU, the NACF plans to expand cooperative businesses with ACFSMC affiliates at diverse fronts including export of agricultural products and seeds, direct trade of fertilizer sources in order to reduce production costs, investment share of financial companies, joint-venture on financial businesses and more.

The NACF has also agreed with the ACFSMC to open a Korean Pavilion at their online mall 'China E Coop' (www.gxyj.com)and exclusively supply NACF goods. Starting from the end of 2017, eight main products including red ginseng, yuja (citron) tea and dried seaweed will be sold through the online site. The NACF also plans to supply and sell Korean agricultural goods all over China through the 340,000 offline shops managed and owned by the Chineses Supply and Marketing Cooperatives.

The ACFSMC’s official invitation to the NACF during their visit to China made this MOU signing possible. With the signing completed, there are high hopes that businesses among the two agricultural cooperatives will gather momentum.

Chairman Kim Byeong-Won of the NACF, who visited as a delegate of the Korean Economic Mission to China, emphasized that “Both agricultural cooperatives share the same goal of increasing farmer’s income and welfare, and also enhancing agricultural competitiveness.” He continued to mention that “I will do my best so that this Agreement will act as a stepping stone to achieve actual results that can contribute to the development of the agricultural and rural areas in both countries.”

Chairman Wang Xia of the ACFSMC said that “the ACFSMC is focusing on solving issues faced by agricultural & rural areas, and farmers” and added on that “It would be a great chance to learn the cooperative banking, agri-business, extension and support services of the NACF which is known as a success model that helped the agricultural industry of Korea that was lagging behind.”

Meanwhile, the ACFSMC, the apex agricultural cooperative in China, is a federation that represents over 200,000 cooperative branches all over the country and has an annual turnover of 740 billion USD.