Pet food professionals from China and throughout the world learned how to develop products for the US$1.37 billion Chinese pet food market at Petfood Forum China 2015, held August 28 at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center. The exclusive conference featured industry experts sharing information and insights on the Chinese pet food market, the pet food product development process, the importance of supplier partnerships and ways to take a new product to retail.
Petfood Forum China 2015 was held in conjunction with Pet Fair Asia 2015. Pushan Tagore, director of pet care global for market research firm GfK, started the conference with an overview of the fast-growing Chinese pet food market. His data showed that pet food sales have increased 12.3% this year and are projected to rise 13.5% in 2016. Online sales have accounted for 38% of pet food sales in China in 2015, with that share expected to rise to 43% in 2016.
In addition, Tagore reported that China now is the third largest dog-owning market globally, with 27.4 million dogs (behind the US with 55.3 million dogs and Brazil with 35.7 million), and the second largest cat-owning country with 58.1 million cats, behind only the US with 80.6 million.
Tagore was followed by Russ Kelley of Kelley Canine Consulting presenting the essential steps to the pre-commercial pet food product development process. Eric Altom, PhD, consultant, then described key stages and requirements for commercialization. Serge Boutet, owner of SB Nutrinnov Consultants, described the criteria for selecting ingredient suppliers and contract manufacturers who could be true partners in developing novel pet food products. John Stanley, president of John Stanley Associates, finished the day’s program with an explanation of why 75% of new products fail at retail and how to work with retailers to ensure your new pet food product is a success.
Petfood Forum China will return to Shanghai in 2016, again during Pet Fair Asia, August 18-21.
