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Summary of our market study
The French pet food market will reach 3 billion euros by 2023, with annual growth of around 7%.
The global pet food market is estimated at over $120 billion.
The premium segment has seen supermarket sales grow by 3.6% in 2021, and the natural and organic pet food segments, although still a small part of the market (0.3% in 2021), are developing rapidly.
Two giants, Mars Petcare and Nestlé Purina Petcare, dominate the market with 67.3% market share in France.
In France, almost half of all households have a cat or dog. There are between 14 and 15 million cats and between 7 and 8 million dogs in France.
Pet owners spend between 20 and 70 euros a month on food, for an average monthly expenditure of around 59 euros.
The quality of pet food has become paramount, and meets the standards expected for human consumption.
E-commerce is gaining market share.
France is a major exporter, with a strong trade surplus.
The main players in the pet food market
- Mars Petcare: a giant in the pet food industry with its Royal Canin, Pedigree and Whiskas brands.
- Nestlé Purina PetCare: another giant, with its Purina One and Friskies brands.
- Chewy: specialist in online sales
- Affinity Petcare: known for its high-end brands such as Ultima and Advance
- Deuerer: Operating mainly in the private label segment,
- United Petfood serves numerous markets across Europe.
- Sauvale Production: a niche player with a focus on gourmet foods
- Yarrah: an advocate of organic pet food
- La Normandise: Another French private-label manufacturer
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Summary and extracts
1 Market overview
1.1 Presentation and definition of the pet food market
The pet food market includes food for dogs, cats, birds, fish, small reptiles and mammals, but excludes food for farm animals. The pet food market is a segment of the pet market, which also includes accessories, hygiene and care products, and pet insurance.
The pet food market is mainly made up of segments for dogs and cats. There are several types of food:
- dry foods (kibbles)
- wet foods (pet food)
- snacks (treats, for example)
The pet market in France has been growing for the past ten years, with sales in value terms rising steadily. However, by 2023, sales volumes will have fallen slightly, by -2.7% in P9 2023. Widespread inflation explains the increase in sales value despite slightly lower volumes.
The market was not impacted by the health crisis, as feed production in France accelerated sharply in 2020 and 2021. Since then, the market has continued to gain momentum, driven in particular by the ongoing renewal of product ranges and the diversification of the offer: Made in France, grain-free, organic, etc. Despite the meteoric rise of the organic food market in recent years, the organic petfood segment remains anecdotal. In 2021, it will still account for just 0.3% of the petfood market, compared with 5.1% for all FMCG products.
The market is also showing a certain dynamism in the high-end and premium segments. Numerous dry, wet and snack foods promise to treat a wide variety of health problems encountered by pets, with increasingly innovative and complex recipes, and most often offered by leading brands.
Growth in the French market is also being driven by theboom in online sales, although pet food distribution is still largely organized around specialist stores, which do not offer the same level of service as the French market.this is in contrast to supermarkets and garden centers, which are posting declining results.
1.2 A steadily growing global market
The global market
The global pet food market is valued at $***.* billion by MordorIntelligence. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of +*.**% over the period ****-****, approaching $*** billion in ****.
Using Mordor Intelligence's estimates, we have the following forecasts for the coming years:
Global pet food market World, ****-****, in billions ...
1.3 A French market that is growing in terms of value but will decline slightly in terms of volume by 2023
The French pet food market is following the global trend, with similar growth to the national level.
Sales of cat and dog food in supermarkets France, **** - ****, in billions of euros Source: ****
The French cat and dog food market in supermarkets and hypermarkets thus grew by +*.*% in ****, driven by premiumization and ...
1.4 Dynamic foreign trade with a large surplus
For the animal feed category (***).
French imports have been growing since **** and exports since ****, but imports have been growing faster than exports, as shown by the deterioration in the coverage rate (***). Nevertheless, France will still have a large surplus at the end of ****, and both imports and exports will continue to ...
1.5 The impact of Covid-19 on the sector
Covid-** has had a positive impact on the pet food market. There was a peak in March ****, when manufacturers' sales were **.*% higher than in March ****. This then remained well ahead of the previous year, although the gap narrowed as the French became more accustomed to confinement.
The March peak can be ...
2 Demand analysis
2.1 The French, big fans of pets
The French are great fans of pets: **% of households had a pet in ****, and **% at least one dog or cat. [***] Between **** and ****, there will be a negative trend of -*.*% for cats, but a slight increase of *.*% for dogs. In France, the dog population has thus stabilized over the last ten ...
2.2 An increase in expenditure
Unsurprisingly, the most expensive pets are cats and dogs. According to Ifop, **% of dog and cat owners spend more than €*** a year on food.
Average annual expenditure by dog and cat owners France, ****, in percent Source: ****
In total, according to Ifop, they spend an average of €*** a year on food for ...
2.3 Premiumization of pet food
The humanization of pets...
The new demand trends are driven by a common phenomenon: owners are placing ever greater importance on their pets. According to an Ipsos study, **% of dog and cat owners in **** consider their pet to be a fully-fledged member of the family. This figure rises to **% for dog ...
2.4 Geographical distribution of demand
Although INSEE does not provide us with specific information on the geographical distribution of pet food sales, we do have the geographical distribution of pet owners, as well as the number of veterinarians. This gives us an overall view of the regional distribution of the animals themselves, and thus of the ...
3 Market structure
3.1 A market dominated by a few major players
The dog and cat food market is dominated by two giants, Nestlé Purina Petcare and Mars Petcare, which together will account for **.*% of the market by ****. The *rd main player is private label.
Dog and cat food market share by value France, ****, in Source: ****
Each of these two giants has its ...
3.2 Sector value chain
By ****, the pet food sector in France will represent *,*** direct jobs and over **,*** indirect jobs. [***] Here's an overview of the pet food value chain in France:
Source: ****
3.3 Distribution channels
Breakdown of petfood distribution channels France, ****, in Source: ****
The dominant distribution channel remains supermarkets, with **% of sales for cats and **% for dogs. E-commerce is a popular distribution channel for dog and cat owners, accounting for **.*% and **% of sales respectively.
The growth of future e-commerce sales is, however, open to question, since ...
3.4 A dynamic market
The "petfood" market, like the "petcare" market, has seen strong growth in recent years, driven by the demand for higher-quality products and by owners who pay more attention to their pets. It's also a dynamic market which, despite being dominated by a few major players, is attracting new players and investors. ...
4 Offer analysis
4.1 A range driven by the popularity of dry foods and new wet formats
In the dog and cat segment, there are different types of food, as mentioned in the introduction:
Dry foods: mainly croquettes. Dry foods enjoyed positive growth for feline nutrition (***). Wet foods: pâtés in particular, canned foods. Wet foods have captured the lion's share of growth in ****, with sales growth ...
4.2 The rise of the premium segment
Growth in recent years has been driven more by premiumization. In ****, the market grew by *.*% in value in supermarkets, while volumes rose by only *.*% that same year. [***]
Industry players are also highlighting the trend, since according to Simon Lesage (***) "**% of the category's growth is in valued segments: health & well-being and moments ...
4.3 Organic and natural products: segments with potential
Natural and organic products are on the rise in the pet food market. Increasingly concerned about the health and well-being of their pets, owners are also aware of theecological impact of pet food. The number of organic and natural pet food products on offer is exploding, and this is helping to ...
4.4 Inflation-sensitive products
The rise in raw material prices that has affected all (***) sectors in **** has not bypassed the pet food sector - quite the contrary. Pet food is mainly made up of cereals and animal proteins.Grain inflation has had a major impact on the market. What's more, bird flu and swine fever ...
4.5 Price analysis of online distributors
In this market, production is highly concentrated, and all online distributors offer similar or very similar products. To explain the differences in performance, we looked at the prices offered on several petfood distributor websites. To do this, we used a reference product present on almost all the sites: Royal Canin **k ...
5 Rules and regulations
5.1 European legislation on the marketing of pet food
Directive ****/**/CEhttps://www.businesscoot.com/backend/study/***/**/edit#study_component_form_translations_de_fields
European Directive ****/**/EC defines animal feed as "products of plant or animal origin in their natural state, fresh or preserved, and products derived from their industrial processing, as well as organic or inorganic substances, alone or in ...
5.2 The European Federation of the Pet Food Industry (FEDIAF)
This federation, which operates at European level, has also drawn up a set of standards for its members, grouped into two main texts:
Code of Good Labeling Practice, available here Code of good practice on product safety, consultable here
The Federation has also compiled an exhaustive list of all reference texts ...
6 Positioning the players
6.1 Segmentation
- C&D Foods France
- Affinity Petcare France
- United Petfood Producers
- Pepette
- Ultra Premium Direct
- Botanic
- Nestor Bio
- Mars Petcare
- Royal Canin (Mars Petcare)
- Maxi Zoo France (groupe Fressnapf)
- Mondou
- Tom&co
- Tomojo
- Zoomalia
- Wanimo (Dôme Pharma)
- Croquetteland
- Vetostore, Le Bien Etre des Animaux
- Animaux Market
- La Compagnie des Animaux
- Bitiba France (Zooplus)
- Zooplus
- Hill's Pet Nutrition
- Affinity Petcare
- Normandise Pet Food
- Japhy
- Tails.com (Nestlé Purina)
- Nestlé Purina Petcare
- Iams (Spectrum Brands)
- Eukanuba (Spectrum Brands)
- FreshPet
- Reglo Pet Food
- Edgar Cooper
- Sopral
- Franklin Petfood
- Médor et Cie
- L’Animalerie - Do&Ka
- Alphia
- Huddle Corp
List of charts presented in this market study
- Revenues of leading companies in the pet food market
- Annual sales of pet food products
- Pet populations
- Global pet food market
- Country rankings by dog population
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Latest news
Royal Canin steps up investments in France - 21/05/2024
- - Mars investment in its French plants over the last five years: 500 million euros
- - Number of Mars plants in France: 8
- - Total Mars investment in 2023: 130 million euros
- - Share of Mars pet food business: 60% (worldwide and France)
- - Investment in Royal Canin's Aimargues and Cambrai production sites: 48 million euros
Maxi Zoo to grow by 26% in 2023 - 08/03/2024
- Maxi Zoo sales in 2023: 538 million euros inc. tax (+26% )
- - Average growth in the pet market in 2023: 13% according to Prom'Animal
- - Number of Maxi Zoo stores in France by the end of 2023: 336
- - Maxi Zoo target for end 2026: 600 stores in France
- - Number of new Maxi Zoo stores planned for 2024: 50
- - Fressnapf Group sales in 2023: 4 billion euros
- - Number of countries in which Fressnapf operates: 14.
Cédric Malié appointed President of Royal Canin France - 14/11/2023
- Number of Royal Canin employees in France: 398.
- Founding date of Royal Canin: 1968.
- Total number of Royal Canin employees: 8,500, including 500 veterinarians and nutritionists.
- Royal Canin operates in over 120 markets.
- Royal Canin has 16 factories and two pet centers worldwide, an innovation center and seven Mars network laboratories.
Animal feed: Affinity Petcare invests in Loir-et-Cher - 23/09/2023
- Behind industry leaders Nestlé and Mars Petcare, Spain's Affinity Petcare, owned by the Catalan family group Agrolimen, has decided to invest around 5 million euros in its kibble factory at La Chapelle-Vendômoise (Loir-et-Cher)
- The 12,000 m2 site, taken over in 2002 when Royal Canin was sold, is to be expanded
- The site manufactures kibbles under two brands, Brekkies and Ultima, 98% of which are for the French market alone
- Affinity Petcare employs 190 people in France (including 115 at the plant)
- The French dog and cat food market is the largest in Europe, with 22.5 million animals.
- The Spanish manufacturer generates around a quarter of its sales there, i.e. over 240 million euros.
- It controls a 12% share of the total market, and in the kibble segment alone, Affinity Petcare has a 25% share
- Number one for dogs and second for cats behind Purina One (Nestlé)
- in La Chapelle-Vendômoise, it will focus its development on its Ultima brand
Botanic goes second-hand - 16/09/2023
- Botanic has 75 stores.
- The second-hand service is being tested in 2 stores
- The target markets for the second-hand service are: garden tools, garden furniture, pet accessories, interior and exterior decoration.
- Customers receive vouchers in exchange for their deposits.
- Recovered products are offered in dedicated areas.
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the pet food market | France
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