Market growrh with convenience food

According to a study by Euromonitor International, around € 705 mio was spent on pet food and pet care products last year in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Of this amount, € 599 mio alone went on dog and cat food. Five years earlier, the latter figure was € 352.2 mio in an overall market of € 406.3 mio. But there are dog and cat owners in all Eastern European countries who live in rural areas, most of whom probably have no idea that special foods even exist for their pets. Experts view these as a particularly large and hitherto untapped source of new customers. Such sections of the population living out "in the sticks" feed their pets on leftovers and food for livestock. According to Euromonitor's study, the proportion of people preparing their own food for their pets last year was 57 per cent in the Czech Republic, 80 per cent in Hungary, and 86 per cent in Poland and Slovakia respectively. The manufacturers are producing a steady stream of new, low-priced product lines for the domestic markets to make the use of prepared dog food attractive to such people.The Czech firm Delikan (www.delikanpetfood.com) was established in 1990 and was the first pet food manufacturer in the Czech Republic. It now offers a selection of dry food for dogs and cats, supplying customers throughout the country as well as in Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania and Hungary. "Delikan is not distributing pet food pro-ducts to supermarket chains, because we believe in quality products," the company has said publicly. Raw materials such as poultry meal, meat and bone meal, fish meal and lamb powder are imported from Western Europe and lamb powder from New Zealand. Delikan has achieved certification to ISO 9001:2000 by LRQA and the quality of the products is guaranteed by the operation of the HACCP system in production. The first products from Delikan were an economy and a standard line, with a premium and super-premium line only being added later. "Our super-premium line can compete with imported products in the same category, but at a better price for our dealers and final customers," a company spokesman told PET in Europe. Another Czech firm is Mira Mar (www.mira-mar.cz), which was set up in 1991 and has specialised in snack products. The company employs 50 staff and has a production plant covering roughly 3 000 m². Production is undertaken in strict compliance with European legislation, according to Mira Mar, enabling it to export its products all over Europe. Its raw…