China’s $24 billion pet food market heats up as local brands challenge global players

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By Daphne Zhang, Casey Hall and Sophie YuIn a dedicated pet mall in the centre of Beijing, Liu Xin shops for Chinese-branded, ready-made beef and chicken meals for her 2-year-old terrier, Eighteen.The 25-year-old spends at least $250 a month on pet food.“I only buy domestic dog foods,” she said. “They are fresh and offer more choices. Western pet foods are too expensive and they aren’t always better.”Liu is among a growing number of Chinese pet owners choosing local brands over Western ones, fuelling a boom in the more than $24 billion pet food market.Annual sales rose sixfold between 2014 and 2024, making the industry one of the brightest spots in the consumer sector of the world’s second-largest economy, which has been weighed down by a property crisis, stagnant wage growth and job security concerns.The rapid growth has drawn large domestic firms seeking new revenue streams as Chinese consumers lavish attention on their pets even as they tighten spending elsewhere.Earlier this year, China’s $260 billion national liquor maker Kweichow Moutai SSE:600519 said it planned to develop pet food out of protein byproducts from the fermentation process. Pork producer Wens Foodstuff SZSE:300498 acquired pet food maker Qingdao Shuang’an Biotechnology Co, while WH Group HKEX:288, owner of packaged pork giant Smithfield Foods, invested in Zhongyu Pet Food last year. Dairy companies Mengniu HKEX:2319 and Yili SSE:600887, as well as drugmaker Yunnan Baiyao Group SZSE:000538, have also launched pet food lines in recent years.The domestic boom has squeezed the market share of international brands such as Canada’s Orijen and Nestle’s SIX:NESN Purina. On April 9, General Mills NYSE:GIS said its Blue Buffalo brand had wound down operations in China.Zhu Ruhai, a sales manager at Germany's Animonda Carny, said sales of its German-made chicken cat food in China fell 30% last year.“It’s like electronics or autos – more people are buying local brands these days,” he said.PET FOOD REGULATED AS LIVESTOCK FEEDChina produced 1.9 million metric tons of pet food in 2025, up 17.9% from a year earlier, the China Feed Industry Association said in March, calling it the fastest-growing segment of the animal feed industry.To lure pet lovers, local producers focus on attractive packaging, as well as a variety of flavours and kibble shapes. Many offer gifts in-store or online and spend heavily...

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