The 2.5 Trillion Pet Food Market Led by Nyangi... Pet Food Production Jumps 8-Fold

Domestic Pet Food Market Expected to Reach 2.5 Trillion KRW by 2028
Pet Food Exports Accelerate... Annual Growth Rate Over 60% Since 2019
Online Channels Dominate with 60% Share in Distribution

With changes in population structure such as aging, low birth rates, and an increase in single-person households, the number of pet owners is rising, leading to rapid growth in the domestic pet food market.

According to market research firm Euromonitor on the 20th, the size of the domestic pet food market grew at an average annual rate of 12.8%, increasing from 415.4 billion KRW in 2010 to 1.761 trillion KRW in 2022. It is predicted to continue maintaining a relatively high growth rate of 6.0% annually, expanding to 2.492 trillion KRW by 2028.

As the pet food market size continues to grow, the domestic production volume of compound feed, which is considered the staple food for pets, is also increasing. The total production volume of compound feed, which was around 22,713 tons in 2016, grew at an average annual rate of 42.1% to reach 186,847 tons in 2022, increasing more than eightfold in six years. In particular, with the recent significant rise in cat ownership, the production growth rate of cat compound feed during this period reached 59.9%, driving the overall production increase. As of 2022, the share of cat food in total compound feed production was 45.2%, more than doubling from 22.2% in 2016.

This is interpreted as a result of the steady increase in cat ownership based on the perception that cats are relatively easier to raise than dogs and are less prone to loneliness. On the other hand, for dogs, related policies such as the permit system for raising dangerous dogs and the registration system for breeding parent dogs have been revised, causing the number of dog-owning households to stagnate, which appears to have affected compound feed production performance as well.

As demand and production volume of pet food increase, exports of pet food are also accelerating. Pet food export value recorded 12.57 million USD (approximately 17 billion KRW) in 2011 and showed little growth until 2018, but jumped significantly to 36.78 million USD in 2019. Since then, it has continued a high growth trend with 67.44 million USD in 2020, 99.94 million USD in 2021, 149.07 million USD in 2022, and 149.75 million USD (approximately 206 billion KRW) last year, maintaining an average annual growth rate of 59.5% from 2019 to last year.

The scale of pet food imports is larger compared to exports, but from 2011 to last year, the average annual growth rate of exports was 22.9%, whereas the import growth rate was 9.7%, falling significantly short of export growth. During this period, pet food import value increased about threefold from 101.13 million USD (approximately 139 billion KRW) to 307.5 million USD (approximately 420 billion KRW).

Looking at brand market share in the domestic pet food market, the top five companies account for 43.9% of the total market, with domestic companies holding 17.9% of the top five share. Although domestic companies' market share has not yet reached that of global companies, it has been steadily increasing compared to 15.4% in 2017, continuously expanding their influence within the market. This is attributed to the government's pet food industry promotion policies, which have provided a growth foundation for domestic companies.

Meanwhile, the domestic pet food distribution channel is concentrated in the e-commerce market. The share of online channels in pet food distribution, which was around 50% in 2018, exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic and rose to 69% as of last year. Excluding online, pet shops (12.3%), animal hospitals (7.0%), and large supermarkets (4.0%) followed in channel preference.

The proportion of pet food purchases through online channels was about 74% for cats, approximately 10% higher than 65% for dogs. Among online channels, dog owners preferred general malls and open markets such as Coupang and Naver, while cat owners, who tend to be younger, preferred pet specialty malls like Pet Friends and About Pet.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.