Eastern Europe under the spotlight

The pet supplies business in Eastern Europe is characterised by high growth rates in the pet food sector and a gradual approximation of the market structure to that of the West. At the International Pet Conference, which is being organised jointly by Dähne Verlag and the events organiser B + P Management Forum, delegates can pick up interesting information at first hand on this topic.Ralf Majer-Abele, managing editor of PET in Europe, will focus in his talk on the underlying economic conditions and the development of the pet product sector in the key markets of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. The position of the speciality trade in Slovakia will be the topic covered by Tomas Gorcz, proprietor of the Ti & To Company, which operates a string of pet shops. And Irina Papazova, managing director of Felina Bulgaria, will look at the Bulgarian pet market in her contribution.Around 130 delegates from the pet supplies sector have already registered for the conference. A broad international spectrum is discernible, with companies from France, Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic, the USA, South Africa, Austria, Hungary, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Great Britain included among the prospective participants. The overall theme of the conference is the effect of globalisation on the pet supplies market. A number of distinguished speakers have been signed up to address the conference, including Attila Akat, vice-president of Masterfoods, Torsten Toeller, CEO of Fressnapf Tiernahrungs GmbH, Lars Bergkvist, CEO of the Swedish pet store chain Arken Group, Eric Combelles, head of pet industry research at Euromonitor International, and Johannes Dürbaum, Sera's head of distribution for Great Britain and Benelux. The programme also features interesting workshops on the future of aquatics and the effects of the Internet on the pet supplies business. The conference will be chaired by Ralf Majer-Abele, managing editor of the two trade magazines PET in Europe and pet.One of the highlights of the International Pet Conference will be the presentation of the PET Retailer of the Year award. The award is given for the most innovative speciality retail concept to have positioned itself successfully in the international market through fresh ideas, an unconventional approach, good specialist advice and service coupled with commercial ingenuity. Nominations and the selection of the award winner will be made by a jury of leading experts in the sector…