Pet food exports rise as work-from-home owners shower their pets with more love

Pet food exports rise as work-from-home owners shower their pets with more love 

By THE NATION

Auramon Supthaweethum

With more and more people working from home during the Covid-19 outbreak, pets are getting more attention, which is helping the pet food market grow, Auramon Supthaweethum, director-general of the Department of Trade Negotiations, said on Tuesday (May 5).

Thanks to this, the value of Thailand’s pet food exports in the first quarter stood at US$466 million (Bt15 billion), up more than 10 percent year on year.

“The value of pet food exports to India, United States, Asean countries and Australia was $19 million, $104 million, $111 million and $22.5 million respectively, marking an increase of 52, 19, 13 and 9 percent respectively,” she explained. “Dog and cat food accounted for up to 81 percent of the export.” 

She added that pet food manufacturers also have the opportunity to expand their export to countries that Thailand has signed free-trade agreements (FTA) with as they will benefit from the waiver on tariff. 

“There is no tariff on pet food exports to Asean countries, China, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru and Hong Kong, though Japan, South Korea and India are still collecting tariff on some types of pet food from Thailand,” she said. 

She also said that manufacturers and exporters should study the current market trends and plan their production accordingly, such as increasing the package size or shifting to canned food to extend storage time. 

“They should also consider nutrition factors and standards as well as comply with import regulations to attract consumers,” she said. 

Over the past 27 years, when the FTAs first came into effect, Thailand’s export of pet food to Asean countries rose by 6,306 percent, followed 3,969 percent to China, 650 percent to South Korea, 573 percent to India, 531 percent to New Zealand and 244 percent to Australia.

“Last year, the value of pet food exports stood at $1.693 billion, $954 million of which came from exports to FTA partners,” she added.

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30387334