Singapore has a culturally diverse population with a high per capita income, but little land for agriculture. Singapore imports more than 90% of its food, including pet foods, from various countries, according to a report from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Since 2004, the US and Singapore have held a free trade agreement, leading to Singapore becoming a developed market for US agricultural products, including dog, cat and other pet foods. .
In 2022, the United States exported a record US$15.9 million in dog and cat food products to Singapore, up 17% from the previous year. The US pet food brand has a 23% market share in Singapore, second only to Thailand. Overall, Singapore will import US$69.2 million in dog and cat food products from various countries in 2022. That number is up from US$43.7 million in 2018. Retail is expected to grow by 7% retail value by 2023. Likewise, the retail value of dog food sales is estimated to increase by approximately 6% by 2023. While more than 20 dog food companies operate in Singapore, no company holds the more than 8% of sales. However, the cat food market is less competitive.
The cat population and cat food are growing in Asia
In Asia, cats will start to outnumber dogs in 2021, said Matthias Koch, founder and managing director of Anibene and keynote speaker for Petfood Forum Asia 2023 in Bangkok on October 25. With the pandemic, then increasing urbanization and subsequent migration of more people to smaller homes, cats began to gain favor as pets, while the population of medium to large dog consumption remained flat or began to decline in some Asian countries, reported Petfood Industry’s Debbie Phillips-Donaldson.
A larger number of owned cats leads to higher sales of cat food, including growth in premium cat food, depending on the market. The premiumization of pet food has begun to hit a ceiling in Asia due to inflation, Koch said, and economy and mid-priced cat and dog foods have a place in some countries, especially those with smaller pet food market.
