There’s no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed just about everything. It seems that every industry has been touched by the virus, be it through sick employees, temporary (or otherwise) facility closures, supply chain issues, or, most universally of all, a complete rewrite of the year’s financial projections.
Even the top pet food companies admit to uncertainty when it comes to predicting how the rest of 2020 is going to play out. In the pages of the June 2020 magazine issue, our annual Top Companies issue, you’ll find plenty of data reflecting 2019’s pet food market. It may feel like 2019 was a lifetime ago, but it’s important to study pre-pandemic numbers (get used to that phrase, because once everything settles down I am confident that business will be defined as “pre-pandemic” and “post-pandemic” for the foreseeable future). The information we provide for 2020 this year will set the baseline for next year’s Top Companies efforts, which will undoubtedly include in-depth analysis of the industry’s landscape in the aftermath of COVID-19.
For now, take a look at how the industry settled in 2019: The top 10 company spots host all the players from 2018 with no jostling — Mars Petcare Inc., Nestlé Purina PetCare, J.M. Smucker, Hill’s Pet Nutrition and Diamond Pet Foods remained the top five companies on the global pet food playing field. ADM Animal Nutrition claimed the top revenue growth spot with a 417% change from 2018, mainly due to the company’s early 2019 acquisition of animal nutrition solutions provider Neovia. Aside from ADM, Belgium’s United Petfood Producers, Ukraine’s Kormotech LLC and U.S.-based Freshpet all saw significant revenue growth from 2018 (42.9%, 31.3% and 27.3%, respectively).
Beyond that, keep up with our COVID-19 coverage, both online and in the magazine issue, where we discuss how to protect companies from pet food fraud and how industry M&A activity might be affected by current events. As always, we’ll strive to be the resource you turn to when you need the right industry information, right now.
Stay safe.
