Photo/Shetuwang

Mar. 28 (NBD) -- "Do I have to pick different pet food for my dog at his different age?" a pet owner asked, knowing that the pet food line of world's largest food and beverage company Nestlé has launched Bright Mind formula specifically for senior dogs.

The product developed by Nestlé's subsidiary, Nestlé Purina Pet Care (Purina), is said to promote alertness and mental sharpness in dogs 7+.

Yang Jing in charge of marketing at pet services provider Boqqi told news outlet Yicai that pet food can be categorized on the basis of not only pets' age, but also their species, size and function, which is a common practice in the U.S. and other developed countries.

China's pet market, where nearly 200 million dogs and cats are raised, is appealing to a multitude of companies at home and abroad.

In China, pet food tends to be increasingly segmented and personalized, and foreign brands, in virtue of enriched R&D experience, get a head start, whereas domestic counterparts still need to catch up, Yang noted.

Over the past several years, consumption upgrading has been a buzzword frequently mentioned in different industries, and the pet industry is no exception.

Changjiang Securities pointed out in a report that consumption upgrading in the pet food sector follows the path of "ordinary staple food - medium and high staple food - customized staple food", with the core to enhance pets' health.

As foreign-invested pet food brands have long since set foot on Chinese soil, giants led by Purina and Mars have grabbed more than a 60-percent share of the country's pet food market worth 200 billion yuan (29.7 billion U.S. dollars), according to Yang. "Local pet food suppliers mostly are wandering within the mid-and-low-end circle."

An industry insider described the similar situation to Yicai, saying that a handful of Chinese listed pet food firms primarily manufacture products for overseas brands and haven't built their own influential brands.

Yang echoed the view, adding that due to uneven and disperse development of domestic pet food brands, many customers would rather pay more for imported products, than buy local brands. Yang advised that what China's pet food sector needs to do at the next stage is to further integrate, eliminate backward enterprises and strengthen R&D capability.

Tang Yingzhi, founder of Boqqi, held that China' pet food industry, after over a decade of development, is to witness a turning point, and customers' higher demand for nutrition, quality and safety of pet food will push the manufacturers to intensive production, hence changing the "small and scattered" development situation of the Chinese pet food sector.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn