With most pets globally, China is home to 190 million cats and dogs, compared to the 175 million in the United States, according to Euromonitor. However, the United States accounted for the largest market share at 38.15%. China came in second with a market share of less than 10%, showing huge growth potential.
It is reported that the market size of China’s pet industry has nearly doubled from 2017 to 2021, approaching the milestone of CNY 400 billion ($ 57.52 billion); the market size is estimated to reach CNY 493.6 billion ($ 70.97 billion) for 2022 an increase of 25.2% over the same period last year, and CNY 811.4 billion ($ 116.67 billion) by 2025.
Several non-pet food companies, such as Yili and Moony, have joined the industry through self-created brands or mergers and acquisitions to look for new business growth opportunities, creating waves of new domestic brands.
Investors are doubling down on the pet industry. It is reported that the amount of investment in the pet segment has reached CNY 2.15 billion ($ 309.38 million) in the first seven months of 2022. In 2021, the pet food market has recorded around 30 investment and financing activities, bringing in a total financing amount of over CNY 10 billion ($ 1.43 billion).
However, hidden pitfalls began to emerge in the flourishing pet food industry filled with business opportunities. Industry insiders admitted that China’s pet food landscape is evolving so quickly that governments are struggling to implement effective laws and regulations to protect the market. With the coexistence of low- and high-quality products, and the low-quality products even driving the high-quality ones out of the game, the market is full of chaos. The never-ending toxic food scandals for cats and dogs have led to the loss of consumer confidence. The stakeholders of China’s pet industry need to get the industry on a healthy track of development as it is in their best interest.
