ST. LOUIS – Jayson Lusk challenges consumers to walk into their grocery stores and count all the different choices of bread on the shelves. Then count all the varieties of pet food.
There’s gluten-free, natural, vegan, Wagyu beef based, organic, high protein, cage-free chicken, grain-free and more.
“It’s overwhelming,” Lusk said this month at the Feed and Pet Food Joint Conference.
A food and agricultural economist, he is currently a distinguished professor and head of the ag economics department at Purdue University. He talked to National Grain and Feed Association and Pet Food Institute members about the current challenges confronting consumers and pet owners.
There are a number of trends shaping consumer spending on pet food.
The emerging food movement has encouraged people to think more about from where food originates, how it’s labeled and nutritive values, and this includes pet food, Lusk said.
“There are some really positive things coming out of this dynamic. One of them encouraging people to think more about where their food comes from,” he said.
Other trends he asked pet food professionals to digest included:
- Consumers are spending 28 percent more and spending over is up 32 percent on pet food. Pet spending, including food, is up 125 percent since 2001.
- Factors prompting this change are the number of pets in the United States. There are now about 90 million dogs and 96 million cats. While about half of U.S. homes have a pet, Lusk noted that 25 percent of homes in China have them. However, China’s population is 1.34 billion compared to the U.S.’s 331 million. “I much rather target China as a customer,” he commented.
- Another food trend is the consumer marketing focus on “natural” and “clean” as opposed those connected with “science,” such as genetically-modified plant sources or highly processed meat derivatives, Lusk said.
- Premium pet food is sold at a 62 percent premium and premium pet food sales are higher for those who are purchasers of premium human food, have higher income and are younger consumers.
- Pet food ingredient prices are likely to remain relatively low for the near term. Lusk pointed out that livestock prices have declined since 2014. Likewise, grain prices have followed a similar downward trend that started earlier in 2013.
- Another issue Lusk suggested watching is meat demand. Since 1986, beef demand has been a slow decline, pork has been stable and poultry has been steadily increasing.
Learn more about pet food by visiting www.petfoodinstitute.org.
