China’s pet fanciers pay high price for love
SHANGHAI cat owner Xiao Wanqing packed her suitcase full of imported cat food and toys and ordered a courier to deliver it to her home.
The 21st Pet Fair Asia, receiving more than 140,000 visitors over the weekend, closed on Sunday. Many like Xiao came, bringing big suitcases to buy imported pet products.
Xiao tends to trust the quality of imported cat food, as “big foreign pet food suppliers are more established and have good reputations,” she said.
More than 1,300 exhibitors set up booths in the 140,000 square-meter exhibition hall.
“My pet dog has a weak stomach, which food do you recommend?” asked Zhang Ran, a middle-aged Shanghai native, at Royal Canin’s booth.
Based on a consultation with Li Xi, a company vet, Zhang ordered 6 kilograms of dog food for her beloved Bichon Frise.
Zhang said when she got her dog eight years ago, she only knew of two different types of dog food, one for puppies and one for adult dogs. But now, there is more choice, and she has learned about different types of food for different breeds.
“China’s pet food market has seen a greater variety of products in recent years to cope with the rising demand of middleclass pet owners,” said Li.
The company he works for has produced more than a dozen prescription dog foods for the China market to help dogs with illnesses like liver or intestinal problems.
As Chinese people pursue a more healthy and happy life, they are willing to treat their furry friends equally. Domestic pet food makers are catching up with the trend, said Zhao Haiming, general manager of Pure & Natural, a Chinese pet food brand.
“Our market research finds pet owners in China are more well-informed regarding their pet’s health, and closely check the ingredients and nutritional elements before buying pet food,” said Zhao. “We are developing new products to catch up with consumer needs.”
According to a pet industry white paper published by goumin.com, an online pet forum, Chinese dog and cat owners are expected to spend over 5,000 yuan (US$735) per pet in 2018, an increase of 15 percent from last year. China’s dog and cat market has reached over 170 billion yuan.
Xiao said in addition to cat food, her pet has other expenses like grooming, vaccines, and medical treatment. The total spending for her cat is about 10,000 yuan a year.
American company Litter Robot brought an auto-cleaning litter box to the fair, which reduces the frequency of cleaning a litter box to once every few weeks.
The company’s salesmen said more than 200 litter boxes are sold via China’s e-commerce platforms each month, each costing over 5,000 yuan.
The World Cat Show recognized by the Cat Fanciers’ Association, a global organization for pedigree cats, was also held during the fair.
Qian Zheng, director of the cat zone of Pet Fair Asia, said over 200 pure-breed cats attended the show.
She said it is quite easy to contact professional breeders for consultations through social media. But 10 years ago, there were few.
She bought her first Persian cat from a foreign breeder after an e-mail correspondence.
“At that time, few foreign breeders were willing to sell pure-bred kittens to Chinese buyers. They didn’t believe that we would treat cats properly, and the rumors about the Chinese eating cats certainly didn’t help.”
Qian said she had to convince the breeder that there was no way she would spend thousands of dollars on a cat and not give it the best care.
Now as one of the best-known cat breeders in the industry, Qian’s Persian cats won first place in the Persian cat’s category at the CFA cat show for two consecutive years.
“Few Chinese pet owners attended the CFA cat show years ago. But now, new faces and new kittens from China appear every year,” she said.
She said she owns 20 to 30 Persian cats now which cost her 600,000 to 700,000 yuan a year.
According to research by China Agriculture University, a pet industry develops most rapidly when a country’s per capita GDP is about US$3,000 to US$5,000. China’s GDP per capita was about US$8,800 last year.
As Asia’s largest trade show for animal supplies and aquariums, Pet Fair Asia moved to Shanghai in 1999.
Since then, the fair has grown from 15,000 square-meter space in Shanghai Mart in 2003, to 140,000 square meters in Shanghai New International Expo Center this year.