China is going to need a whole lot more salmon – for pets, according to one of the country’s leading pet food processors.
Liu Feng Qi, founder of the Tianjin Lang Nuo Pet Food Co Ltd., speaking at an industry conference in Beijing in early April, said demand for quality pet food is rising as pets are becoming more popular amongst China’s growing middle class.
"China’s middle classes are increasingly focused on health and nutritional attributes of pet food for their pets, and salmon is very nutritious" Qi said.
Tianjin Lang Nuo Pet Food’s facility is located a two-hour drive from Beijing. The firm markets its “cold dry salmon” under the firm’s Ra Nova brand at CNY 269 (USD 42.73, EUR 34.78) for 300-gram sachets, or CNY 79 (USD 12.55, EUR 10.21) for 70-gram packs.
China’s pet food sector is worth USD 1.5 billion (EUR 1.2 billion) per year in sales – and growing by 10 percent a year – according to a website for pet owners, Gou Min (literally meaning “Dog People”), which organized the Beijing conference. That figure is similar to data published by several Western research firms.
Key players in the market include feed and tilapia specialist Tongwei as well as United Kingdom-based multinational Mars Co.
Lang Nuo spent CNY 50 million (USD 7.9 million, EUR 6.5 million) on a new processing plant in 2017, while Tongwei also added a new plant in 2017 for production under its “CarePet” brand.
