Global pet food market growth is being driven by two primary trends: humanization and premiumization. These two factors color the data across nearly all regions — from North America, an incredibly mature market with slow growth, to Asia Pacific, a developing market seeing more growth than any other region.

Read the entire article about what’s driving global pet food market growth in the March 2018 issue of Petfood Industry.

Similar trends provide different outcomes for regional growth

For North America, particularly the US, humanization and premiumization are holding up growth when other factors have seemingly lost their effectiveness. Pet owners are already buying as much pet food as they need, so volume sales can no longer be relied on for significant growth. Instead, growth is coming from the drive pet owners have to give their pets the best.

In the US, more than perhaps any other country in the world, humans are treating their pets like members of the family, and are willing to spend with that idea in mind. Premium pet food sales continue to grow when other segments, particularly economy sales, are seeing drops in growth. In fact, according to Euromonitor International data, in 2017 premium dog and cat food sales made up more of total value sales than economy and mid-priced sales combined (see Figure 1).

In the Asia Pacific pet food market, growing middle classes and the urbanization of populations are leading the way for pet owners to become more focused on their pets. Thus, humanization has entered the playing field, and with it customers’ desires for more premium-focused foods. Trends that have long since matured and become more nuanced in markets like the US (organic, natural, grain-free, etc.) provide significant opportunities for those looking to get a leg up in the Asia Pacific’s burgeoning premium pet food market.

Read the full article.