Pet Food
The Korean pet food market is growing rapidly as the Korean population with companion animals exceeded 10 million. Korean food companies are also throwing their hats into the ring, but the Korean pet food market is still dominated by foreign brands.
According to industry sources on July 21, 70% of the Korean pet food market is occupied by foreign brands such as Nestle Purina, Cesar, Royal Canin, and Now.
According to the Korea Customs Service's import and export trade statistics, animal feed imports rose 80% from 36,308 tons in 2011 to 53,292 tons in 2016. In comparison, exports of Korean feedstuffs swelled 5.4% to 6,613 tons in 2016 from 5,094 tons in 2011 which were negligible considering that the absolute volume was small.
In particular, during the period from 2011 to 2016, feed imports amounted to 256,458 tons, 7.3 times feed exports of the same period (35,568 tons). The import volume was about 10.1 times more than the export volume. This reflects unit prices of imported goods outweighed those of Korea’s export goods.
"Korean companies are not able to keep up with the Korean market’s demand for high-end products," said Park Ji-hye, an industry researcher at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade. “Korean consumers have been familiar with imports for a long time and generally do not trust Korean products.” Korean companies have been concentrating on producing and selling mid- to low-priced products until now, indicating that Korean companies are not following feed market trends due to changes in people’s awareness of companion animals.
However, recently, Korean pet food products are likely to become premium feed as more companies, mainly big food companies are expanding into the food industry.
Harim began to seek to tap into the pet food market in earnest by splitting off its dog food division and founding in early April. Last month Harim Pet Food announced its entry into the market and strategy.
Dongwon F&B has already exported its products to AIXIA, the top ranker in the Japanese wet cat food can market for about 30 years. The company recently launched “Love Together,” a good pet food for alley cats in collaboration with Molly’s Pet Shop of E-Mart.
CJ CheilJedang, which has been producing B2B pet food for pet dogs and cats since 1988, is also invading the market on a full scale with the launch of “Oh Fresh” in 2013 and “Oh Nature” in 2014. Earlier this year, the Seoul Dairy Cooperative launched Korea's first exclusive milk for companion animals. Sajo Donga One brought out “O'LOVEAT,” an organic pet food. KGC Ginseng Corp. is also employing a premium strategy in the feed market, introducing “Gennie Pet,” a health food brand targeting pets.