VIRENDRA KUMAR CHOUDHARY, SIDDHARTH KUMAR
Department of Agri-Business and Rural Management,
Indira Gandhi Agriculture University, Raipur (Chhattisgarh)

Dr. GULAB DAS BARMAN, Department of Vegetable Science,
Indira Gandhi Agriculture University, Raipur (Chhattisgarh)

Pet Food Market
The pet food market consist sales of goods and services by entities (organizations, sole traders and partnerships) associated with manufacturing cat and dog food and other animal food from ingredients such as grains, oilseed mill products and meat products. The industry includes the establishments that produce dog food, cat food, and other animal food. Other animal includes birds, mammals and aquatic animals.

Pet foods are specialty foods prepared according to the nutritional requirements of domesticated animals that can be either made from plant or animal-based food materials. Pet foods are made with innovative shapes and attractive colors to entice the owners and are added with special flavorings to enhance the taste so that animals easily eat the food.
Pet Food Market Size

The global pet food market reached a value of nearly $74,554.1 million in 2019, having increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.7% since 2015. The market is expected to register a slow growth from $74,554.1 million in 2019 to $ 75,494.8 million in 2020 at a growth rate of 1.26%. The slow growth is mainly due to lockdown and social distancing norms imposed by various countries and economic slowdown across countries owing to the COVID-19 outbreak and the measures to contain it. The market is then expected to recover and grow at a CAGR of 5.6% from 2021 ad reach $ 88,478.1 million in 2023.

Growth in the historic period resulted from increased pet spending, increased pet ownership by gen z and gen y adults, and emerging markets growth. Factors that negatively affected growth in the historic period were contamination of pet foods, and stringent rules and regulations.

Going forward, increasing demand for premium and organic pet food, influence of digital media marketing and social media, rising demand due to increase in stockpiling of pet food, increasing feeding of stray animals and other abandoned pets, and increasing demand for pets will drive the growth. Factors that could hinder the growth of the pet food market in the future include reductions in free trade, and supply chain disruption.

Pet Food Market Drivers-

Increasing Demand For Premium And Organic Pet Food
The pet owners concern about their pets’ health is driving the demand for premium and organic pet foods, thus spurring the market for pet foods manufacturing during the period. Pet owners often view pets as family members and are willing to spend on best pet products and services therefore they are buying organic and premium products to feed their “fur babies”. Organic pet foods are free from artificial colors, flavors, antibiotics, synthetic hormones, toxic pesticides and preservatives whereas premium pet foods contain higher quality ingredients than economy or generic pet foods. Companies that manufacture premium pet foods formulate diets according to the nutritional requirements of an animal. For example, premium brand companies offer foods that are specially formulated for growing puppies, large- and small-breed dogs, lactating and gestating animals, and geriatric animals.

Pet Food Market Restraints
The key restraints on the pet food market include:

Reductions In Free Trade
Increasing global trade restrictions are expected to limit the growth of the pet foods manufacturing market in the forecast period. Many developed and developing economies are considering imposing restrictions on free trade to boost their local economies. BREXIT is likely to lead to more trade restrictions between the UK and other countries in Europe. For instance, BREXIT will increase costs for animal health and pet food products and can end the EU pet passport scheme so BREXIT will be disastrous for UK’s pets. The US government has adopted a more protectionist stance, and renegotiated many trade agreements, including the NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement). These changes could set off a wider trade war reversing the recent trend towards greater global free trade. For example, between mid-October 2018 to mid-May 2019, G-20 nations issued 20 new trade restrictive measures, including higher tariffs, import bans and new customs procedures for exports, which are expected to affect $335.9 billion worth goods. The USA and China trade war is imposing high tariff rates to US exports to China. For example, tariff on U.S. fishmeal to China, for will go from 10% to 25%, putting the new effective tariff rate at 45% and animal protein meals tariff will go from 5% to 10%, putting the new effective tariff rate at 15%. These factors have a negative impact on customers and manufacturers of pet foods, limiting the growth of the pet foods manufacturing market going forward.

Pet Food Market Trends
Major trends influencing the pet food market include:

Increasing Demand for Cannabidiol (CBD) Pet Food
Pet food manufacturers are increasingly investing in cannabidiol (CBD) infused pet food to cater to the increasing demand fueled by the COVID—19 pandemic. Pet food sales are currently increasing as consumers are increasingly panic buying to have enough food for their pets amidst government lockdowns due to the pandemic. CBD food products are expected to last for a longer duration when compared to traditional pet foods. For example, currently, both human and pet CBD infused food accounted for more than 30% of online sales and over 3500 CBD brands are available in the US market. In 2019, Purina, a Nestle owned pet food company, announced its decision to invest in CBD infused dog food production.

Personalization of Pet Food
Pet food manufacturers are providing pet foods that are personalized from customer’s end and emerging as a new trend in the pet food market. The manufacturers prepares customized food according to the details provided by the customers such as preferences of grain or grain free food for dog, nutritional values to be added according to his activities and few other details. Once the personalized blend is ready according to customer’s demand, the pet food gets delivered to doorstep with feeding instructions and details of ingredients present in the food. The development of e-commerce is supporting the trend of personalization and customization of pet foods. For instance, brands like Tails in the UK and Just Right by Purina in the US offers customized pet foods through tailor-made pet food recipes. Purina uses details from a survey that pet owners complete to formulate a custom blend of pet food which is to the customer’s home.

Opportunities and Recommendations in The Pet Food Market

Opportunities – The top opportunities in the pet food market segmented by type, will arise in the dog food market segment, which will gain $9,2415 million of global annual sales by 2023. The top opportunities in the pet food market segmented by distribution channel will arise in the internet sales market segment, which will gain $13,751 million of global annual sales by 2023. The pet food market size will gain the most in the USA at $1,873.7 million.

Recommendations – To take advantage of these opportunities, The Business Research Company recommends market-trend-based strategies for the pet food market include investing in facilities to produce quality grain-free dog food products, offering premium pet food product, using ecommerce platform to se products online, adopting automation technologies to maximize production efficiencies, focusing on offering customized food according to customer’s needs, focusing on producing pet foods with organic ingredients, focus on gaining more subscribers, investing in CBD pet food for product differentiation, and investing in increasing their online sales channels. Player-adopted strategies in the pet food market include investing in expanding manufacturing operations, enhancing product portfolio through strategic acquisitions and investing in R&D to develop new improved and premium products.

Pet Food Market Segmentation
The pet food market is segmented by type, by distribution channel, by type of ingredient and by geography.

By Type - The pet food market can be segmented by type into

a) Dog Food

b) Cat Food

c) Other Pet Food

The dog food market was the largest segment of the pet food market segmented by type, accounting for 61.3% of the total in 2019. Going forward, the dog food segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the pet food market, at a CAGR of 4.7%.

Sub-Segmentation

By Type Of Food - The dog food market is further segmented by type into

a) Dry Dog Food

b) Wet Dog Food

c) Dog Treats And Mixers

The dry dog food market was the largest segment of the dog food market segmented by type, accounting for 70.6% of the total in 2019. Going forward, the wet dog food segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the dog food market, at a CAGR of 11.5%.

The cat food market is further segmented by type into

a) Dry Cat Food

b) Wet Cat Food

c) Cat Treats And Mixers

The dry cat food market was the largest segment of the cat food market segmented by type, accounting for 62.6% of the total in 2019. Going forward, the cat treats and mixers segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the cat food market, at a CAGR of 5.9%.

The other pet food market is further segmented by type into

a) Bird Food

b) Fish Food

c) Small Mammal/Reptile Food

The small mammal/reptile food market was the largest segment of the other pet food market, accounting for $1.3 billion or 38.2% of the total in 2019.The bird food market is expected to be the fastest-growing segment going forward at a CAGR of 3.7%.

By Distribution Channel – The pet food market is segmented by distribution channel into

a) Hypermarkets

b) Specialized Pet Shops

c) Internet Sales

d) Others

The others market was the largest segment of the pet food market segmented by distribution channel, accounting for 54.1% of the total in 2019. Going forward, the internet sales segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the pet food market, at a CAGR of 26.4%.

By Type Of Ingredient - The pet food market can be segmented by type of ingredient into

a) Animal Derivatives

b) Plant Derivatives

c) Synthetic

The animal derivatives market was the largest segment of the pet food market segmented by ingredient, accounting for 40.8% of the total in 2019.

By Geography- The pet food market is segmented into o North America

USA
  • Canada Mexico

Western Europe UK
  • Germany
  • France
  • Spain
  • Italy
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Denmark
  • Finland
  • Ireland
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Portugal
  • Sweden

Asia Pacific
  • China
  • Australia
  • Hong Kong
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Japan
  • Malaysia
  • New Zealand
  • Philippines
  • Singapore
  • South Korea
  • Thailand
  • Vietnam

Eastern Europe
  • Russia
  • Czech Republic
  • Poland
  • Romania

South America
  • Brazil
  • Argentina Chile
  • Colombia Peru
  • Venezuela

Middle East
  • Saudi Arabia Israel
  • Turkey UAE

Africa
  • Egypt Nigeria
  • South Africa

North America was the largest region in the global pet food market, accounting for 38.5% of the total in 2019. It was followed by western Europe, asin pacific and then the other regions. Going forward, the fastest-growing regions in the pet food market will be Eastern Europe, and Asia Pacific, where growth will be at CAGRs of 10.0% and 5.9% respectively. These will be followed by the Middle East, and Western Europe, where the markets are expected to grow at CAGRs of 5.3% and 5.2% respectively.

Pet Food Competitive Landscape-

Major Competitors are:
  • Mars, Incorporated
  • Nestle S.A.
  • The J.M. Smucker Company
  • Colgate-Palmolive Company
  • Diamond Pet Foods Inc.

Other Competitors Include:
  • General Mills, Inc.
  • Archer Daniels Midland Company
  • Saturn Petcare GMBH
  • Unicharm Corporation
  • Tiernahrung Deuerer GmbH
  • Marukan co.,ltd
  • Riverd Corporation Inc
  • Nippon Pet Food Co. Ltd
  • Glenand Group
  • Purina PetCare India Private Limited
  • Luscious
  • Pedigree
  • Yantai China Pet Foods Co., Ltd
  • Premier Petfoods Aust Pty Ltd
  • Real Pet Food Company
  • Fressnapf
  • Monge & C. Spa
  • Pet Food UK
  • Burgess Pet Care
  • GA Pet Food Partners
  • Tekro
  • Brit
  • Marp Pet Food
  • Partner in Pet Food
  • Mars Petcare Inc.
  • Nestle Purina PetCare
  • Hill`s Pet Nutrition
  • Nutreco
  • Diamond Pet Foods
  • Canadian Jerky Company Ltd.
  • Corey Nutrition Company Inc.
  • Elmira Pet Products Ltd.
  • Malta Cleyton
  • Brazilian Pet Foods S/A
  • Diana Pet Food Brasil (SPF)
  • Neovia Group Brazil
  • Natural Pet Foods
  • Premier Pet
  • Bio-Pet Ltd.
  • Tropikal Pet
  • Cagatay Pet Food
  • African Gazelle Products
  • Maneli Pets
  • RCL Foods
  • Martin & Martin Pty Ltd