The market for dog and cat food continues to grow. In 2007 the worldwide retail sales exceeded 45 billion US dollars (Euromonitor International). This represents a total growth of about 40% as compared to 2002.Of course this can’t go on at such rates though analysts predict the dog and cat food will continue to grow in the upcoming 5 years to 52 million US dollars in 2012.

There is a major difference between countries. The more mature markets (US and Western Europe) grow at a slower pace compared to upcoming markets such as Latin America (107% growth in 5 years time).

In mature markets growth can be attributed to both the humanization trend as well as the private label production. People scale up the dog food they buy and more sales is done in the premium dog food segment.

Along with pet humanization as an evident trend we see pet obesity reaching record levels. This opens up new markets and we see an increasing success with health-focussed multi-functional dog food with ingredients such as omega 3 and 6 fatty acids. Also dog food with marketing claims such as gluten-free, hypoallergenic and organic is doing well.

Eastern Europe (Russia, Poland, Hungary, Romania) differs from Western Europe and this market is growing rapidly. Sales increased nearly 200% between 2002 and 2007. Euromonitor expects an increase of another 56% before 2012. This is mainly in the economy and mid-priced dog food segment.

Influencing factors in Eastern Europe are:

Increasing levels of disposable income Changing perception of dogs and cats Increased demand for prepared dog and catfood Rising urbanization Improved distribution infrastructure Increased number of single person households has increased the need for companionship

Another result is the growth in pet superstores and the number of pet departments in garden centers. Where pet specialty stores used to dominate this market we now see an increase in sales in supermarkets and other points of sale.

In short, more dogs, more points of sale, the perception of dogs as companions and family members is driving this growth.