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These are trying times for any industry, anywhere. Lingering COVID fears, a possible recession, inflation, a populace who are still feeling the effects of a lockdown… spending isn’t the first thing on consumers’ minds.
However, allow us to be just a little optimistic for a bit.
No industry is recession proof, and we all see downturns. But for those of us in the pet food and livestock feed arenas, recent history has proven that we’ve been impacted just a little less than many other industries. Animals need to be fed, after all.
In fact, despite the continuously piling challenges of the pandemic-laden last two years, the pet care industry has continued to grow, seeing the $216 billion spent globally in 2020 grow to $232 billion on 2021. Remember, this was during the height of the pandemic; people were shunning brick and mortar, transportation was a mess and supply chain issues were the norm. And yet, the industry grew by more than 7 percent. In 2022, the global pet market is projected to increase even more, to an impressive $261 billion (per Global Industry Analysis). The growth alone has doubled each year since the pandemic hit.
When it comes to the U.S. pet food market specifically, the numbers are even more heartening. According to Pet Food Industry, in 2020 Americans spent nearly $6 billion more than in 2019 — again, the height of the pandemic — for an 18 percent increase over the previous year. Now, this increase was a huge anomaly because pet adoptions were — ahem — unleashed during the pandemic. According to the ASPCA, 1 in 5 American families — 23 million households — adopted a pet during those locked-down months.
A more realistic look at growth in the pet food industry comes from Pet Food Industry, who accounts for the pandemic outlier and still shows a 10 percent increase since 2019, hitting just under $35 billion. But in 2022, things are even better: Pet food is selling to the tune of a projected $45 billion.
Realistically, some of the 2022 increase in dollars spent is due to higher prices; inflation touches everyone. But the fact of the matter is that there are more households with more pets, and the younger generations of Americans simply consider their pets to be family. And you always feed your family.
It’s an industry that isn’t slowing down, despite the myriad challenges facing it.
But our optimism doesn’t end with companion animals. In the livestock feed industry, there is also room to feel somewhat comfortable from the supply side. In 2021, amidst doubts about everything from the global economy to when the lockdowns would end, global feed production increased by more than 2 percent over 2020. The U.S. was the second-leading producer of livestock feed, producing nearly 232 million metric tons. And while the global output increased by 2 percent, the top-ten producers showed an average of 4.4 percent increase over 2020.
Animals have to eat.
The total U.S. feed grain production is forecast to show a modest 660,000 metric ton increase over 2021. It’s a negligible percentage, but it is an increase, and that’s a good sign. That means that more feed is still being delivered to more animals, despite the difficulties in production and logistics of the last two-plus years.
There are 94 million cows — one cow for every three people — in the United States in 2022, and we remain the largest producer, consumer and exporter of corn feed in the world with more than 90 million acres dedicated to domestic livestock feed. If you’re in the animal feed business, you can rest assured that there will always be livestock, and they’ll always need to be fed, no matter what the economy or the rest of the world looks like. That’s somewhat comforting!
It hasn’t been an easy time since March 2020 for anyone. If you deal with logistics, you’ve possibly felt especially challenged. But if you’re in the companion animal or livestock feed industries, there is comfort to be taken from the fact that these industries have been largely unaffected by the downturn in the economy, and in some cases, they’ve even thrived. Consumers need to feed their animals!
And whatever challenges you’re facing in delivering food and feed to your customers, never forget that Bill Barr is here to ease your supply chain and sourcing difficulties. You’ve got mouths to feed, so let us do the heavy lifting.
