Yantai China Pet Foods Co., Ltd. (WANPY) plans to open an office in Europe this year, reported Global Pets. Martien van Bohemen will lead Yantai China Pet Foods Europe. Hao Zhongli founded Yantai China Pet Foods in 1998, after which the company expanded to 12 pet food factories globally. Yantai China Pet Foods makes nutritionally balanced pet foods, training treats, functional foods, prescription diets and other products. Yantai exports Chinese pet food products to more than 50 countries on five continents, including Japan, United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Australia, Russia and Korea. The company has annual sales of more than one billion units.
China follows global pet food premiumization trend
The conventional wisdom among experts tracking the dynamic Chinese pet food market is that pet owners in China prefer brands from outside the country, due to the perception that those products are safer and of higher quality than pet foods made in China, reported Petfood Industry. However, that situation may be changing.
Chinese brands are incorporating many of the product features and claims associated with premium pet foods from other parts of the world. As a result, domestic brands now own a 34 percent share of the market, up from just 26 percent a year ago, and the highest growth for those brands is occurring in premium-priced products.
That data and information came from George He, account director with GfK Retail and Technology China, as part of his presentation for Petfood Forum China 2018 on August 21, 2018 in Shanghai.