Positive trend in Italy

According to Assalco and Zoomark International, cat food is the principal product group in the Italian pet supplies sector, with a market share of 53.5 per cent. Last year, sales of cat food amounted to € 1.024 bn, while the tonnage was 246 212 t. Dog food generated revenue of nearly € 890 mio in 2015. Dry food accounted for 52.4 per cent of sales, wet food for 34.8 per cent and treats for 12.8 per cent. Assalco and Zoomark International did not provide any data relating to dog food tonnage. Treat products experienced the strongest growth, and the speciality chains increased their sales significantly in this segment. Sales of cat treats were up by 15.3 per cent and dog treats by as much as 22.9 per cent. 

As in previous years, only the figures for the supermarkets were taken into account with regard to food for other pets. These came to € 17 mio, equating to a 5 per cent decline in sales compared with 2014 and a fall of 2.5 per cent in tonnage. A significant decline in tonnage was recorded in particular for bird food and food for small animals. 

On the other hand, pet care and accessories products saw an increase in sales of 2.4 per cent in the mass market retail channel in 2015, while tonnage grew by 3 per cent. The growth drivers here were primarily health and hygiene products, sales of which rose in the period under review by 24 per cent, with tonnage increasing by 25.2 per cent. The toy sub-category (sales: +4.3 per cent; tonnage: +5.9 per cent) also developed positively in the year. Sales of anti-parasitic products grew by 1.1 per cent in 2015, although the tonnage fell by 1.6 per cent. There was a negative trend in the market for chew bones (sales: -2.4 per cent; tonnage: -1.9 per cent) and cat litter (sales: -1.1 per cent).

New figures were presented by Assalco and Zoomark International for the pet population too. According to these figures sourced by Eurispes, 43 per cent of all Italians own one pet, while two out of ten households have two or more pets. According to Euromonitor International, there are 6.9 mio dogs, 7.4 mio cats, 12.9 mio birds and 29.9 mio fish in Italy. The number of small animals and reptiles is put at 3.1 mio.