PIF | PET GAZETTE | 13
VIEWPOINT
In this month’s column, Nigel Baker CEO of the Pet Industry Federation speaks about the
opportunities available in various export markets
W
ith Brexit in turmoil and
neither side managing to
find a positive way though
the impasse, PIF decided a
year ago to investigate other
export markets for its members. Following
a chance meeting at a trade event, PIF set
about investigating the opportunities in the
Chinese marketplace, which is home to 84
million dogs and 64 million cats compared to
the UK’s nine million dogs and eight million
cats.
With pet ownership still only 7% of
households compared to 45% in the UK,
this market certainly needed investigating.
Furthermore, the Chinese market is growing
at 20% per annum, compared with all the
western markets, including the USA, which
are only seeing 2% growth.
But, I hear you say, it’s China, it’s a long
way away, they don’t look after their pets and
have no regard for animal welfare. Before
continuing, I think it’s worth pointing out my
position on this.
I am a great believer that if you don’t like
something, you shouldn’t just throw stones at
it, but get inside the issue and see if you can
help fix it. Secondly, if you don’t understand
the issue, go and investigate firsthand.
Brits visiting China is nothing new, but
most visit the Chinese pet trade shows to
find products to import to the UK. Very few
look the other way to see what the export
possibilities are. The reason for this is mainly
due to the fact that the Chinese market is
difficult to make inroads into. We don’t speak
or write the language, and we certainly don’t
understand their culture.
So, in order to make this work for PIF
members, we teamed up with the Chinese
company that we met a year ago, formed
a joint venture for PIF members and visited
China. The hospitality that was extended to us
during our stay was second to none. We were
looked after by the provincial state governor
and his ministers and I struggled to think that
if our hosts came to the UK, how we would
reciprocate.
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Every evening a banquet was arranged
with a different official hosting it. During the
day, our jv partner took us round the facilities
that they would use to introduce PIF members’
products to the Chinese market. This included
a free trade zone for fast customs clearance
for products entering China.
My first visit to China in February has now
resulted in an agreement being officially
signed in May in London for the opening of
an Integrated Pet Industrial Park. This is very
exciting news as it will facilitate not only fast
custom clearance and but also opens the
opportunities to the question I posed earlier,
animal welfare.
With such explosive growth, the Chinese
local government is aware they do not have
the infrastructure in place to deal with this
number of pets, so it is PIF’s intention to
introduce not only education to the Chinese
market but also pet services. Our Chinese
partners have already designated space in
the park for a pet grooming school, day care
and a vet clinic which they are looking to PIF
to help build. This opens up lots of opportunity
not only for pet products into China but also
pet services.
My second visit to China was to a different
state and this time we took three PIF member
companies with us HOWND, Broadreach
Nature and Prins Petfoods from Holland.
Unfortunately, Woof and Brew, Natures Menu
and the Big Biscuit Company weren’t able to
join us.
Our joint venture partner had organised a
trade stand at the Maritime Silk Road Expo in
Fuzhou which is a five day show with 300,000
people visiting Our members’ products were
on display and not only were viewed by the
Chinese pet owner, but lots of orders were
taken by distributors visiting the show.
But what was really remarkable was the
Chinese media interest in the products
on the stand. I must have undertaken
10 interviews with TV and newspapers
as to what we were doing in China,
and how we were looking to
introduce UK companies to the
marketplace.
There is a huge demand for western
pet products with heritage as Chinese pet
owners perceive them to be of higher quality
to their domestically produced goods. Even
the city’s mayor visited the trade stand with
an entourage of TV cameras surrounding
him. For the companies that were able to join
us, the trade mission was eye opening and
nothing like anything they had expected.
Once again, the regional government
offered us all exceptional hospitality. One
of the sites we visited was a new animal
reception centre they were building for animal
imports, which included an exhibition area
for school parties and visitors learn about
the importance of looking after animals and
plants that were native to China and prevent
invasive species from entering the region.
Real signs of an economy wishing to protect
their flora and fauna.
The Chinese market offers enormous
opportunity for the UK pet industry and PIF
is delighted to be part of this initiative. If you
want to find out more about PIF in China and
the opportunities it brings, please contact the
Pet Industry Federation.
June 2019