M. Shahbandeh
Research expert covering agriculture & FMCG
Pet food market in the UK - statistics & facts
Pets are very popular for a number of reasons, such as companionship at home or simply just providing some structure in day-to-day life. Dogs and cats are the most popular pets in the UK, followed by rabbits and indoor birds. The UK pet food market is the second largest in the world, only behind the United States and seems to be growing. Consumer spending on pets and related products in the UK increased by almost six percent between 2021 and 2022, to reach almost 9.9 billion British pounds.
Pet food retail in the UK
The average UK household spends around 2.8 British pounds per week on pet food. Offline pet retail in the UK is still where the majority of consumers shop for pet food, but online purchases are expected to gain popularity in coming years. As of 2022, around 3.6 percent of pet food purchases were conducted online and that is expected to grow to 6.6 percent by 2027. The impact of the pandemic in 2020 likely caused the spike in online purchases in 2020. The top online store for pet food purchases was petsathome.com. The company generated 270.5 million U.S. dollars in e-commerce net sales in 2022.Pet food trade
Far more pet food is imported into the UK than exported and imports have increased by over 57 percent since 2014. In 2022, over 607 million kilograms of pet food were imported to the UK. Comparatively, the UK only exported about 192 million kilograms of dog food in 2021. The pet food imported to the UK is mostly from European countries of origin, with France and Germany being the top two exporters in 2022.
