One trend follows another

The crisis in Ukraine is a particularly striking example. Since the West and Russia have been at loggerheads over the future of Ukraine, the once-booming market in Russia has collapsed sharply, even for the pet supplies sector. How the business will develop there in the next few years is pretty uncertain. Another BRIC country, Brazil, is also plagued at present by a tough economic situation that could have negative consequences in the medium and long term for the pet sector. And although China's economy continues on its upward trend, its development is by no means as fast as it was a few years ago. Since the pet sector tends to have an anticyclical character, it may be less strongly affected by the imponderables in the global economy than other sectors. What is undeniable, however, is that when economic problems significantly diminish purchasing power in a country, no sales records are set, even for pet food. Notwithstanding these uncertainties, market researchers expect the global pet food market to grow to around $75 bn by 2017. The market is assumed to grow annually by an average of 4.2 per cent. According to the market researchers, dry food accounts for 39 per cent of the market, snacks and treats for 21 per cent and wet food for 7 per cent. North America is the world's biggest market with a volume of sales of $ 22 bn, followed by Europe, Latin America and the Asia/Pacific Region.

The markets are developing in an entirely different way. In Japan, sales of pet food, even of dog food, have declined slightly in the last few years (cf. PET worldwide 2/2015). Sales of dog food in 2014 amounted to $2 bn. This is the most important product group in the pet market there, accounting for nearly 40 per cent of the overall market. In China, on the other hand, sales of pet products have been growing again since the global recession in 2008. The volume of dog food sales in China is estimated by market researchers to be approx. $ 420 mio at present. In Asia as in Latin America, the pet supplies market is benefiting from the fact that many people with rising incomes have discovered a love of pets. The newly emerging middle class there is strongly oriented to western models from the USA and Europe, and pets are still a status symbol and part of the whole lifestyle trend. Small dogs in particular, decked out in fashionable apparel, are extremely popular. The world is now more interconnected than ever thanks to the Internet, so that trends in the…