A billion-dollar market

According to official statistics from the Turkish Ministry of Trade and some local media reports, the number of pets in local households has significantly increased in recent years and one in every 10 households currently has a pet.  

According to Statista data, the proportion of households with at least one dog or cat has increased in Turkey since 2012. The canine population in Turkey in 2022 was estimated at approximately 1.65 mio and is expected to further grow this year. About 5 per cent of households in Turkey have at least one pet dog. Although this figure is quite low when compared to other countries in the European Union, it shows the existing potential for further growth.

Products and services for pets, which are virtually considered members of the family, have developed continuously and created a huge market. In the case of pet food alone, the Turkish market has almost attained 1 bn dollars in value terms in recent years. According to analysts’ expectations, the pet food market, which is growing year-on-year, is expected to exceed 1 bn dollars this year. The same has been observed in other segments of the Turkish pet market offering products and services such as toys, cosmetics and care products, health and cleaning products as well as special clothes, insurance, hotels and grooming. As Selcuk Cetin, general manager of the National Fair Organisation, which organises the Petzoo fair for pets, said earlier in an interview with the Turkish Milliyet business paper, the pet market is growing steadily and became one of the few markets to demonstrate high growth rates even during the pandemic.

While the annual average growth rate of the Turkish pet products and services market is around 15 per cent, this rate increased by up to 50 per cent during the pandemic. Çetin explains this situation as “people who had to spend more time with their pets during the pandemic period focused on their needs.”

As domestic production covers almost 80 per cent of Turkey’s need for pet products, thanks to a significant expansion of range, most analysts believe the country has the potential to become one of the major exporters of pet products, at least in Europe, in years to come. Turkish pet food manufacturers currently export their products to more than 60 countries and there is a high possibility that this figure will increase, as many local players are interested in expanding the geography of their exports. According to data from…