That dollar value reflects a 57% increase compared to $14.44 billion five years earlier in 2018.
Year over year, globally exported dog and cat food rose 7.1% compared to $21.2 billion during 2021.
The 5 biggest exporters of pet food for canines and felines are Germany, United States of America, Thailand, France and Poland. Added together, that cohort of pet food suppliers collected half (50.8%) of revenues for all dog or cat food exported during 2022.
Comparing data from a continental perspective, countries in Europe sold the most dog or cat food on international markets during 2022 with exports valued at $14 billion or approaching two-thirds (61.8%) of the world’s total. In second place were Asian exporters at 19.3% while another 14.9% of worldwide dog or cat food shipments originated from North America.
Smaller percentages came from shippers in Latin America (2%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Oceania (1.8%) mostly New Zealand and Australia, and Africa (0.3%).
For research purposes, the 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 230910 for dog or cat food put up for retail sale.
Dog or Cat Food Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of dog or cat food during 2022.
- Germany: US$2.8 billion (12.4% of exported dog or cat food)
- United States: $2.5 billion (11%)
- Thailand: $2.44 billion (10.7%)
- France: $2.05 billion (9%)
- Poland: $1.7 billion (7.6%)
- Netherlands: $1.6 billion (6.9%)
- China: $1.2 billion (5.5%)
- Hungary: $796.7 million (3.5%)
- Canada: $786.7 million (3.5%)
- Czech Republic: $762.9 million (3.4%)
- Italy: $657.7 million (2.9%)
- Belgium: $618.3 million (2.7%)
- Spain: $518.5 million (2.3%)
- Austria: $501.7 million (2.2%)
- United Kingdom: $368.0 million (1.6%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 85.2% of dog or cat food exported in 2022.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing dog or cat food exporters since 2021 were: United States of America (up 20%), Thailand (up 19%), Hungary (up 12.2%) and Czech Republic (up 11.6%).
Three major suppliers posted declines in their exported dog or cat food sales, namely: Canada (down -6.5% from 2021), United Kingdom (down -4.3%) and Austria (down -4.2%).
Countries Generating Best Trade Surpluses from Dog or Cat Food
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for dog or cat food during 2022. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s exported dog or cat food and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Thailand: US$2.3 billion (net export surplus up 17.6% since 2021)
- France: $1.1 billion (up 20.9%)
- Netherlands: $789 million (up 12.5%)
- Germany: $740.5 million (down -1.5%)
- Poland: $574.2 million (up 28.6%)
- China: $572.7 million (down -10.5%)
- Hungary: $519.6 million (up 7.9%)
- Czech Republic: $364.6 million (up 9.8%)
- United States of America: $334.5 million (down -38.6%)
- Argentina: $125.4 million (down -5.8%)
- Lithuania: $121.1 million (up 14.3%)
- Serbia: $89.8 million (up 6.3%)
- Vietnam: $88.6 million (up 47.3%)
- Brazil: $81.4 million (up 9.7%)
- Honduras: $43.5 million (up 179.1%)
Thailand posted the highest surplus in the international trade of dog or cat food. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms Thailand’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Countries Experiencing Worst Trade Deficits from Dog or Cat Food
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for dog or cat food during 2022. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s imported dog or cat food purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United Kingdom: -US$995.4 million (net export deficit up 34.8% since 2021)
- Japan: -$705.5 million (up 8.9%)
- Canada: -$473 million (up 111.5%)
- Romania: -$310.2 million (up 10.5%)
- Malaysia: -$289.1 million (up 15.7%)
- Italy: -$275.7 million (up 25.9%)
- Chile: -$263.8 million (up 14.4%)
- Australia: -$252.5 million (up 41.3%)
- Taiwan: -$251.4 million (up 18.7%)
- Philippines: -$231.9 million (up 31%)
- Russia: -$224.1 million (up 24.8%)
- South Korea: -$198.2 million (down -5%)
- Portugal: -$191.5 million (up 8.1%)
- Ukraine: -$184.8 million (up 9.8%)
- Indonesia: -$177.9 million (up 4.6%)
Overtaking Japan since 2021, the United Kingdom incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of dog or cat food. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights Britain’s arduous competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for dog or cat food-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand.
Searchable Database of Dog or Cat Food Exporters
The 100 major exporters in the automated database below generated 99.996% of global export sales for dog or cat food.
| Rank | Exporter | Dog/Cat Food Exports | 2021-2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Germany | $2,817,487,000 | +2.6% |
| 2. | United States | $2,495,876,000 | +20% |
| 3. | Thailand | $2,436,360,000 | +19% |
| 4. | France | $2,050,685,000 | +2.8% |
| 5. | Poland | $1,719,178,000 | +7.4% |
| 6. | Netherlands | $1,556,431,000 | +5.3% |
| 7. | China | $1,244,260,000 | +1.9% |
| 8. | Hungary | $796,662,000 | +12.2% |
| 9. | Canada | $786,722,000 | -6.5% |
| 10. | Czech Republic | $762,906,000 | +11.6% |
| 11. | Italy | $657,676,000 | +7.6% |
| 12. | Belgium | $618,263,000 | +0.7% |
| 13. | Spain | $518,487,000 | +5.8% |
| 14. | Austria | $501,721,000 | -4.2% |
| 15. | United Kingdom | $367,999,000 | -4.3% |
| 16. | Switzerland | $226,833,000 | -0.7% |
| 17. | Ireland | $223,657,000 | +9.8% |
| 18. | Lithuania | $219,961,000 | +18.3% |
| 19. | New Zealand | $209,848,000 | +3.4% |
| 20. | Denmark | $208,417,000 | +5.1% |
| 21. | Sweden | $196,731,000 | +1.6% |
| 22. | Australia | $195,157,000 | -8.6% |
| 23. | Serbia | $152,471,000 | +4.1% |
| 24. | South Korea | $149,067,000 | +49.2% |
| 25. | Vietnam | $138,587,000 | +42.3% |
| 26. | Argentina | $132,662,000 | -5.1% |
| 27. | Russia | $99,247,000 | -56.3% |
| 28. | Türkiye | $98,394,000 | +77.3% |
| 29. | Brazil | $95,343,000 | +7.1% |
| 30. | Mexico | $91,711,000 | +44.7% |
| 31. | Honduras | $79,490,000 | +53.3% |
| 32. | Portugal | $70,197,000 | +9.4% |
| 33. | South Africa | $66,426,000 | +4% |
| 34. | India | $62,699,000 | +4.2% |
| 35. | Japan | $52,890,000 | -3.8% |
| 36. | Guatemala | $52,128,000 | +28% |
| 37. | Cambodia | $48,460,000 | +33.2% |
| 38. | Hong Kong | $46,886,000 | -16.2% |
| 39. | Finland | $41,837,000 | +93.4% |
| 40. | Norway | $35,549,000 | +6% |
| 41. | Latvia | $26,982,000 | +3.7% |
| 42. | Nepal | $24,048,000 | +27% |
| 43. | Paraguay | $23,541,000 | +67.3% |
| 44. | Slovakia | $21,977,000 | +98.7% |
| 45. | Costa Rica | $20,833,000 | +39.4% |
| 46. | Taiwan | $19,993,000 | +36.8% |
| 47. | Malaysia | $19,667,000 | +36.3% |
| 48. | Luxembourg | $18,633,000 | -24.3% |
| 49. | Greece | $16,759,000 | +41.1% |
| 50. | Romania | $16,153,000 | +28.8% |
| 51. | Ukraine | $15,645,000 | -0.6% |
| 52. | Estonia | $15,248,000 | +40.8% |
| 53. | El Salvador | $13,569,000 | +6.5% |
| 54. | Croatia | $11,638,000 | +15.8% |
| 55. | Colombia | $11,623,000 | +19.4% |
| 56. | Ecuador | $9,689,000 | +456.2% |
| 57. | Iceland | $7,557,000 | +16% |
| 58. | Slovenia | $7,517,000 | -13.1% |
| 59. | Singapore | $7,222,000 | +28.1% |
| 60. | Chile | $7,156,000 | +7% |
| 61. | Bulgaria | $5,997,000 | -8.7% |
| 62. | Myanmar | $5,214,000 | +47.2% |
| 63. | Indonesia | $4,344,000 | +27.1% |
| 64. | Iran | $3,308,000 | 0% |
| 65. | Peru | $2,891,000 | -28.4% |
| 66. | Israel | $2,023,000 | -8.2% |
| 67. | Uruguay | $1,535,000 | +46.6% |
| 68. | Mongolia | $1,043,000 | -0.6% |
| 69. | Macao | $912,000 | 0% |
| 70. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $803,000 | -58.8% |
| 71. | Malta | $559,000 | +6.5% |
| 72. | Kenya | $503,000 | -5.5% |
| 73. | Azerbaijan | $477,000 | +136.1% |
| 74. | Armenia | $476,000 | 0% |
| 75. | Kazakhstan | $468,000 | +1014% |
| 76. | Venezuela | $399,000 | +171.4% |
| 77. | Dominican Republic | $374,000 | -46% |
| 78. | Georgia | $354,000 | +13.1% |
| 79. | Barbados | $353,000 | +41.2% |
| 80. | Lebanon | $267,000 | +24.2% |
| 81. | Belarus | $254,000 | -93.4% |
| 82. | Nicaragua | $213,000 | 0% |
| 83. | Saint Kitts/Nevis | $200,000 | 0% |
| 84. | United Arab Emirates | $195,000 | -99.4% |
| 85. | St Maarten (Dutch) | $174,000 | +304.7% |
| 86. | Oman | $145,000 | -96.6% |
| 87. | Panama | $109,000 | +172.5% |
| 88. | Saint Helena | $101,000 | 0% |
| 89. | Afghanistan | $99,000 | +153.8% |
| 90. | Algeria | $99,000 | 0% |
| 91. | Bangladesh | $93,000 | -52.6% |
| 92. | Cyprus | $88,000 | -79.9% |
| 93. | Sri Lanka | $81,000 | 0% |
| 94. | Trinidad/Tobago | $77,000 | +208% |
| 95. | Samoa | $74,000 | 0% |
| 96. | New Caledonia | $71,000 | 0% |
| 97. | Cocos (Keeling) Is | $70,000 | 0% |
| 98. | Tunisia | $68,000 | 0% |
| 99. | Philippines | $64,000 | +3100% |
| 100. | Senegal | $62,000 | +313.3% |
The fastest growers among the 100 main exporters are the Philippines (up 3,100% from 2021), Kazakhstan (up 1,014%), Ecuador (up 456.2%) then Senegal (up 313.3%).
An entry of 0% in the above table’s rightmost column means that 2021 data was unavailable for that entry.
Leading Pet Food Brands
Below are major dog and cat food brands that represent established entities engaged in the international trade of pet food. The home country for each is shown within parenthesis.
- Addiction Foods (Singapore)
- AvoDerm (United States)
- Essential Foods (Denmark)
- Eukanuba (United States)
- Freshpet (United States)
- Hill’s Pet Nutrition (United States)
- Iams (United States)
- Natural Balance Pet Foods (United States)
- Nature’s Variety (United States)
- Nutro Products (United States)
- Pedigree Petfoods (United States)
- Ralston Purina (United States)
- Royal Canin (France)
- Solid Gold (United States)
- Vegepet (United States)
See also Germany’s Top Trading Partners, Netherlands Top 10 Exports, United States Top 10 Exports, Indonesia’s Top 10 Imports and Vietnam’s Top 10 Imports
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on August 17, 2023
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on August 17, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on August 17, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on August 17, 2023
Wikipedia, Category:Pet food brands. Accessed on August 17, 2023
