The Western Hemisphere drives growth in the global pet sector with strong growth in both North and South America. Alltech’s Agri-Food Outlook 2024 examined pet food production growth trends around the world. In most regions of the planet, pet food production expanded or remained steady in 2023 with Europe as the only continent seeing a decline. Overall pet food tonnage grew to 34.70 million metric tons in 2023, up 0.7% from 34.96 million metric tons in 2022.
Get your daily Petfood Industry newsletter
“The global pet sector continues to expand, and Latin America and North America are primary drivers of that growth “The surge in pet ownership, especially post-pandemic, is contributing to the rising demand for high-quality pet products and services.”
Pet food production around the world
Africa and the Middle East: Pet food production increased marginally in Africa last year. Pet food tonnage in the Middle East held steady.
Asia-Pacific: With 2.41% growth in 2023, pet food production continued an upward climb in the Asia-Pacific region driven by increased pet ownership. Within the regions, China increased pet food production by 6%.
Europe: Compared to the rest of the world, Europe was the only market with declining pet food production in 2023. Supply-chain disruptions and inflationary pressures led to this decrease.
Latin America: Geographically, Latin America spans North and South America. Pet food ingredient usage by weight increased by 3.85% in Latin America last year, equating to growth of 0.32 million metric tons. Brazil’s pet food production increased by 6.18%.
North America: In Alltech’s report North America included only the United States and Canada. The nations from Mexico to Panama were included in Latin America. The United States and Canada beat all of Europe in pet food production, reaching a total of 11.34 million tons of ingredients used in 2023. The total number of pet feed mills in the two nations decreased during the past year, but the number of pet food production facilities increased. In the United States, pet food production grew by 1.31%.
Oceania: Pet food ingredient tonnage increased by 0.04 million metric tons in 2023, a 7.57% increase.
