While Brazil and Mexico dominate Latin American pet food markets, other nations have the potential to grow by following similar patterns to the two leaders, said Ivan Franco, founder of Triplethree International Market Research, during the opening session of Foro Mascotas 2018 on May 31 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
Franco examined the total volume of pet food sold in various North and South American nations where Romance languages predominate. Likewise, he analyzed the amount of commercial pet food given daily to pets in these countries. Franco found that Brazil stands above all other markets in Latin America in total volume of commercial pet food sold. Mexico’s pet food market ranked second in total volume with a somewhat higher amount of daily consumption per pet than Brazil. That consumption per day is one area where other nations can focus to grow their regional pet food markets.
Potential growth and challenges for Latin American pet food industries
Many countries, such as Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay and El Salvador have room to increase the amount of commercial pet food eaten on a daily basis, according to Franco’s data. While the populations of these countries relative to Mexico and Brazil means they will never be the largest markets for total tonnage consumed, they could become larger than they are by boosting the amount of commercial pet food per animal and reducing the use of table scraps as pet food.
Other nations face economic challenges that may make increasing the size of their pet food markets difficult, he said For example, Venezuela has the lowest level of both average consumption of commercial pet food per animal and the lowest volume of total consumption. However, the pet food industry in Venezuela is unlike to grow much until the nation’s rampant inflation, political challenges, unemployment, poverty and other problems improve. No one is going to buy premium pet food while they have trouble putting food on their own plates. Cuba, Bolivia and Peru also had low levels of per capita and total consumption of commercial pet food.
