Food for thought
A major trend that has been impacting the industry is the so-called "humanization of pet food. Pet owners are more susceptible to buy pet food that reflects their own taste. This has become the new competitive battlefield as pet food owners express their care with, to what they feel is healthy, tasty and good looking pet food. Next to the premium segment, diet based pet foods are gaining traction, probably due to the rise of lifestyle diseases such as overweight or diabetes.
Flexibility in processing
Jeroen Boensma: "The technological impact is that our production lines for wet pet food need to support more variation in chunk size, different structures and visible ingredients. Instead of the basic cubical shape, irregular shaped chunks with a more meat-like appearance are becoming popular. Another premium feature is fresh looking ingredients such as pieces of carrot or peas. For producers the flexibility to switch from one production batch to another with totally different specifications has become very important. Based on the propriety steam technology of Selo, our production lines offer a very wide range in shape, color, added ingredients and any required type of gravy. Regardless of the flexibility in ingredients, the production process needs to be reliable and consistent. That's our aim for each and every installation."
Economic development
Looking at the international trends, it becomes clear that economic development is a strong driver for pet food business: "What we see is a strong growth in Asia, particularly in the high end segment. The rise of the well-off middle class consumers, having pets as a lifestyle item, leads to almost only premium pet food on the market. In Central and South America, the domestic market is growing fast, whereas the produced pet food previously almost entirely went to North America. The same is happening in Russia and Eastern Europe, where we have shipped an unprecedented number of pet food lines to recently," says Jeroen Boensma.
Pet Food Forum 2021, Kansas
The pet food market isn't only growing as a whole, there are also new trends and developments happening right now that shape different market segments. At the sold out Pet Food Forum 2021, September 22-24, in Kansas City (US) Selo will be present to check out the latest global trends. If we don't see you at our exhibitors booth, we will be happy to schedule a personal meeting with you or to see you during any other future event around the globe.
Jeroen Boensma | Sales manager pet food
salespetfood@selo.eu | +31 541 582 000