On August 21st, IFFO China Xiaowen Ling attended the 2019 Petfood Forum China, which was one of the concurrent sessions in the 2019 Pet Fair Asia held by VNU Exhibitions Asia LTD. The forum was organized by Petfood Industry and WATT Global Media.
Presentations focused on market trends in Chinese pet food market and innovations in global pet food market, including the state of Chinese pet food market, update on China’s pet food production and regulations, and the latest research topics, such as growth drivers, gut-brain axis and pet food safety. About 150 delegates attended this session.
The 2019 Petfood Forum China is valuable and informative. Not only the pet food professionals but also the leading industry suppliers attended. IFFO members who focus on the Chinese pet food market are suggested to attend this forum when this conference repeats. Members could find many more opportunities to network with the other delegates as well. Further information of Petfood Forum China would be followed up if IFFO members are interested in.
State of the Chinese pet food market- Ms Melody Shu, Tmall Global pet category leader
Ms Melody Shu from Tmall Global started with the introduction of Tmall, one of the largest e-commerce platforms worldwide, and its parent company, Alibaba. Then she shared an overview of the Chinese pet market. From Tmall’s database, it could be seen that the sales volume for pets was RMB 178 billion with an annual increase of 25%. Products for dogs contributed 60% of total sales while cat products contributed the rest 40%. Currently, China has 74 million of pet owners with an annual increase of 24%, who are mainly pet and dog owners. In the meantime, aquatic pet owners are increasing in number in those years. Ms Shu indicated that pet is the fastest growing category on Tmall Global. At the end of her presentation, Ms Shu compared the general import regulations with the regulations of import via bonded warehouses, and especially pointed out the benefits of import via the bonded warehouses.
Update on China’s pet food production and the influence of new pet food regulations - Wang Jinquan, Ph.D., associate professor of the Feed Research Institute, CAAS
As a member and advisor of the committee of pet food regulation who helped draft the MOARA’s pet food regulations, Dr. Wang Jinquan provided the latest data on the country’s pet food manufacturing facilities and production, then reported on the influences of the new pet food regulations that took effect in May 2018. Capitals came into pet food industry intensively from 2017 and the scale and number of newly established enterprises reached the most over the years. The trend of staple food for dogs and cats has changed from the nature food, fresh meat in 2005 to grain free food in 2018. When talking about the pet food regulations, he pointed out the improvement of the new regulations and explained the new regulations by several cases. Dr. Wang indicated in his presentation that the MOARA will continue to improve the pet food regulations in the future as the pet food market is growing rapidly.
Novel technologies for sustainable pet food production with single-cell organisms- Dr. Dejan Miladinovic, Feed Technology at Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Dr. Dejan Miladinovic explained emerging technologies that can help with overall use of functional molecules from novel raw material sources and contribute to improved pet health and sustainable production. Sustainable farming of healthy livestock and aquatic animals requires sustainable feeds. Alternative nutrient sources for feeds, such as unicellular organisms yeasts and microalgae are defined as the feed raw material alternatives. Proteins obtained from single cell organisms have an optimal profile of amino acids, high nitrogen retention and high digestibility in model-animals, but protein extraction from single-cell organisms is challenging. Dr. Miladinovic indicated that pulsed electric fields and other technologies together with enzymes and the assistance of the high pressure processing may overcome these challenges and hence ensure sustainable downstream of the feed materials.
Algal polysaccharides to improve gut health and immunity in pets- Dr. Virgil Meallet, Asia Technical Director of Olmix Group
Dr. Virgil Meallet shared results of a recent research project in collaboration with INRA (France) that highlighted the potential of in-feed marine macroalgal polysaccharides to strengthen animal’s gut biological defenses. Algae sulfated polysaccharides (MSP®) is a kind of rare sugars (rhamnose) extracted from red algae (Solieria Chordalis). It contains sulfate and the phylogenetic of it is close to the animal glycosaminoglycanes. This ingredient only exists in marine environment. It is recommended for young animals. The dosage could be adapted according to the specie stage and sanitary status in the farm.
During the forum, Mr. Jerel Kwek from Addiction Pet Foods and Mr. Wang Tianfei from Petking Pet School shared their experience about launching a pet brand in China from different sights. Other experts attending this forum presented their latest researches about fecal health improvement of pet, dietary factors and pet food safety.
Author: Xiaowen Ling