---
title: "What Do You Know About the Big Pie of the Pet Food Market?"
description: "As China's economy grows and living standards rise, pets are becoming new family members for more households, driving rapid expansion of the pet industry. The pet food market, a key segment, has exceeded 100 billion yuan in China, with foreign brands dominating the high-end market while domestic brands hold a smaller share. This article explores market size, brand landscape, and implications for domestic manufacturers."
author: "澄韵"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
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published: "2016-12-06"
language: "en"
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---

# What Do You Know About the Big Pie of the Pet Food Market?

> As China's economy grows and living standards rise, pets are becoming new family members for more households, driving rapid expansion of the pet industry. The pet food market, a key segment, has exceeded 100 billion yuan in China, with foreign brands dominating the high-end market while domestic brands hold a smaller share. This article explores market size, brand landscape, and implications for domestic manufacturers.

> **Introduction:**
>
> According to data, when a country's per capita GDP reaches $3,000–$8,000, the pet industry develops rapidly. With China's rapid and stable economic growth and rising living standards, pets are becoming new members of more and more families. People's affection for pets and their spending on pets continue to rise, leading to sustained prosperity and huge market potential in China's pet industry. The pet industry market revolves around pet trading, daily care, medical care, insurance, funeral services, and other activities. Today, I will discuss the pet food market in China, which is currently the most important and earliest developed segment, hoping to provide some insights for friends interested in this area.
>
> **Market Size of Pet Food**
>
> **1) Global pet industry market exceeds $100 billion**
>
> According to a report by Zhiyan Consulting, the global pet market was estimated at approximately $105 billion in 2015, maintaining a year-on-year growth rate of about 5% over the past five years.
>
> **2) China's pet food market exceeds 100 billion yuan**
>
> According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the number of pet dogs in China reached 27.4 million, ranking third in the world, after the United States (55.3 million) and Brazil (35.7 million). According to the "2015 China Pet Owner Consumption Behavior Survey Report" released by Goumin.com, the total number of pets in China exceeds 100 million, and the market size exceeds 100 billion yuan. Compared with foreign countries, China's pet population is far from saturated. The United States has 400 million pets, 1.3 times its human population; in terms of the proportion of households owning dogs in cities, Beijing is 7.5%, Shanghai is 4.5%, and the national average is only 1.7%, while 70% of American households own pets. With economic development, the number of pet owners in China will continue to grow over the next decade, and the pet population will increase rapidly.
>
> When per capita GDP is between $3,000 and $8,000, the pet industry develops rapidly. Currently, a number of Chinese cities have reached this level. Pet industries in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and other cities are already quite developed. According to Lai Xiaoguang, president of the Jiangsu Provincial Pet Diagnosis and Treatment Industry Association, in China's first- and second-tier cities, the proportion of households with pets reaches 8%, and in ordinary cities it exceeds 2%.
>
> In China, an aging population accompanied by fewer children has led to a rapid increase in the number of empty-nest elderly in urban and rural areas; in 2015, the population aged 65 and above reached 10.5%. With urbanization, faster pace of life, and changes in family structures, such as the increase in DINK families and empty-nest families, the role of pets has become increasingly important. People's need for pets as life companions has increased, promoting the upgrading of pet consumption.
>
> According to the "2016 China Shopper Report" jointly released by Bain & Company and Kantar Worldpanel, sales of pet food grew by 11.7% in 2015. With the increase in per capita disposable income, not only is the quality of human life improving, but also the quality of pets' lives. In China, 90% of pets do not use professional pet food, and half of pet owners spend between 100 and 500 yuan per month on pets. Households spending more than 500 yuan account for over 40%, and average spending is on the rise.
>
> **Brand Landscape of Pet Food Market**
>
> **1) Overview of global market competition**
>
> The global pet food market is basically monopolized by a few large enterprises such as Mars and Nestlé. These companies have rich market development experience, strong financial strength, outstanding R&D capabilities, and high brand awareness, reputation, and loyalty. Their development directly affects the direction of the global pet food market.
>
> (Note: The above is a Google translation; company names may be awkward. See the original English version below.)
>
> Image source: Petfood Industry.com
>
> **2) Overview of competition in the Chinese market**
>
> In 1993, Mars established Aifeng Pet Food Co., Ltd. in Beijing to operate its Pedigree dog food and Whiskas cat food, marking the official entry of pet food into the Chinese market. In March 2001, Chengdu Haozhuren Pet Food Co., Ltd., under the Tongwei Group, was established and entered the market with its Haozhuren dry food brand, marking the beginning of Chinese national pet food brands entering the industry. After more than 10 years of development, China's pet food has formed four major categories: dry food, wet food, snacks, and nutritional supplements, with a complete range of products, accounting for 71% of the overall pet market, with sales reaching 4.26 billion yuan, forming an industry of considerable economic scale.
>
> China's pet food industry also has obvious brand monopoly characteristics: first, foreign brands represented by Mars, Nestlé, and Royal Canin occupy the mid-to-high-end market; second, domestic brands represented by Haozhuren, Nuori, and Zhenbao mainly occupy the mid-to-low-end market. In the current market competition, foreign brands have obvious brand advantages, occupying more than 70% of the domestic pet food market share. In contrast, numerous domestic brands hold less than 30% of the market share.
>
> **Implications for Domestic Manufacturers**
>
> **1) Use exports to drive domestic sales and fully enter the domestic market**
>
> Currently, most domestic pet food companies mainly export to developed countries in Europe and America. However, with the rapid development of the domestic pet food market and the current situation of the pet industry at home and abroad, the development momentum of the domestic market is also very promising.
>
> **2) Food quality control is the top priority**
>
> With the improvement of economic level, pets are increasingly valued, and people pay more attention to the quality, safety, and nutrition of pet food. Pet food has a wide variety and requires fine workmanship, which imposes strict requirements on enterprise processes. This requires enterprises to continuously enhance their independent R&D capabilities and improve product technical standards, safety standards, hygiene standards, and environmental standards.
>
> **3) Chinese consumer behavior habits**
>
> 1. Pet preference is the most important purchasing factor
>
> 91% of pet owners say that "my pet likes it" is an important purchasing factor when buying pet food. Therefore, when launching new products, companies can first introduce small packages or trial packs to increase the chance of consumers buying larger packages.
>
> 2. Pursuit of diversified pet food
>
> Currently, pet food on the market can be roughly divided into the following categories: pet staple food (cat food, dog food); pet snacks (canned food, fresh packs, meat strips, jerky for cats and dogs); pet nutritional supplements (calcium, vitamins, protein, and other nutrients for cats and dogs).
>
> Among these, cat and dog food has the largest consumption. The market for pet snacks and nutritional supplements has only recently begun to rise, and consumer acceptance is gradually increasing, gradually developing into a larger independent market. Compared with pet staple food, the market concentration of pet snacks and health products is lower, and the market potential and entry space are greater.
>
> 3. Online purchasing power has greatly increased
>
> Currently, supermarkets, pet supply stores, and e-commerce channels are the three main channels for pet food. In China, consumers prefer to buy in pet supply stores (62%) and online channels (58%).
>
> At present, China's online pet food industry lacks a unified industry standard, especially regarding product quality and safety, which remains a gap in China's e-commerce online pet food industry. How to succeed in fierce market competition is a huge challenge for China's online pet food industry. With the active guidance of external systems and the self-improvement of the online pet food industry itself, the online pet food industry will surely become an important consumption channel in the future.
>
> **Conclusion**
>
> Pet food is a necessity for pets' survival and the foundation of the entire pet industry. In the entire pet industry chain, pet food consumption accounts for more than 75% of total pet consumption. Therefore, the continuous influx of foreign brands is not a bad thing; on the contrary, it helps domestic brands continuously improve and innovate, move toward a more standardized path, and thus promote the development of the entire pet industry.
>
> At present, the domestic pet food industry system is not yet perfect, and there is still a long way to go. Since Chinese pet food companies have already stepped onto the stage of competing with internationally renowned brands, on the basis of learning from the operation of the international pet industry, China's pet industry should have its own localized development characteristics. In recent years, with the continuous influx of new brands and the constant iteration and updating of the market, a new round of market reshuffling will soon come. This is an inevitable trend when the industry develops to a certain stage. Inferior products and "three-no" products will be gradually eliminated by the market, excellent brands will stand out, the industry pattern will become clearer, and the market will become increasingly mature and standardized. **In this pet market with unlimited prospects, it is particularly important for manufacturers to seize the opportunity, build their own brands, achieve breakthroughs and development among international first-line brands, and win the hearts of the majority of Chinese consumers.**
>
> -END-
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