Interzoo, a global exhibition for pet supplies drew 36,792 trade visitors from 111 countries to Nuremberg, Germany, in May to exhibit and learn about the latest petfood and pet products.
At Interzoo 2012, 79 percent of the exhibitors came from abroad with a total of 1,539 companies from 53 countries. The leading exhibiting countries besides Germany (321 companies) were China (293 companies), USA (136 companies), Italy (104 companies) and Great Britain (100 companies). While 62 percent of visitors came from abroad in 2010, that figure rose to 65 percent for 2012. The countries with the largest shares of visitors were Germany (12,705), Italy (1,967), France (1,225), Great Britain/Northern Ireland (1,106), the Russian Federation (1,103), the Netherlands (1,100), the Czech Republic (1,089), Spain (1,029) and Poland (884).
Nine out of 10 exhibitors rated their participation in Interzoo 2012 extremely positively and the products on display met the expectations of 96 percent of visitors. Some 86 percent of the Interzoo exhibitors aimed to win new customers, 77.5 percent aimed to provide information about their products in general, and 68 percent aimed to provide information about their new products. Accordingly, half the exhibitors presented a new product at this year’s Interzoo and 37 percent had an improved product to show. Almost 95 percent of the exhibitors say they reached their most important target groups with their products and 95 percent of them also made new business connections.
The visitor survey showed that the largest groups of visitors included self-employed businessmen and proprietors (53 percent), managing directors and divisional directors (20 percent), and departmental managers (10.7 percent), while almost all visitors (96 percent) are involved in procurement decisions in their company. More than three-quarters of the visitors were experts from the trade, with another 14 percent from manufacturers, and 7 percent from pet grooming salons and veterinarians.
At the event, Petfood Industry editor-in-chief, Debbie Phillips-Donaldson, told attendees that the global market for petfood grew by 4 percent to nearly US$66 billion, forecasting 3.5 percent growth for dog and cat food sales by 2015. She said that consumers are demanding natural ingredients and no additives, and placing importance on careful processing and transparent labeling. “Consumers demand transparency – they want to know what’s in their pet’s food and how it is produced.”
According to Phillips-Donaldson's presentation, more and more companies are using fresh meat in their petfood, with some products containing up to 70 per cent fresh meat, and the raw petfood trend catching on. “The growth of raw food in the USA will increase by 25 percent by 2015,” she said.