Japan's declining pet ownership, soaring pet food prices

TOKYO, Jan 19 (petfoodindustry.com) - Japan's pet industry has its work cut out for it this year in anticipation of a further decline in pet ownership and higher pet food prices.

In his New Year's message to members of the Japan Pet Food Association, chairman Hiromitsu Kodama said that while Japan's economy is expected to recover this year after the pandemic, the results of the association's annual 2022 National Dog and Cat Breeding Survey, released in late December, point to another challenging 12 months for the pet industry.

Perhaps the biggest problem is how interest in pets is waning among the general Japanese population, a trend that started years ago even though pet ownership went up during the pandemic.

Last year, the number of Japanese households that welcomed new dogs and cats increased by more than 10% compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the survey, there were 426,000 new pet dogs in 2022 (350,000 in 2019) and 432,000 new pet cats (394,000 in 2019). The year closed with 7,053,000 dogs and 8,837,000 cats or 15.89 million pet dogs and cats all over Japan. ...continue reading

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