The global pet food market surpassed $94.6 billion  in 2019.  The U.S. leads the world in pet food sales as pet owners around the  world seek fresher, healthier and ethically produced ingredients—the same as  they expect for themselves.
According to  a new report from PMMI Business Intelligence, “Trends and Drivers Impacting the  Pet Food Industry,” this trend to “humanize” our pets has been going on for  some time, and can require changes in processing--more  slowly to preserve textural integrity, at lower temperatures to preserve  nutritional value, with more exotic ingredients, with a continued shift of  packaging towards pouches to prevent the deterioration of nutrients through  oxidation.
This  change will result in an increase demand for fillers, FFS, and other pouch  compatible primary packaging equipment.
The pet food market  is broken up into four main food groups:   
 
- Dry Food (Kibble)
- Wet Food (Pate’,  Minced and Shredded, Gravies and Chunks, Morsels and Cubed) 
- Treats and Snacks  (Biscuits, Soft Chews, Jerky, Chews and Bones)
- Nutraceuticals  (Vitamins and Minerals, Dietary, Enzymes, Probiotics)
A premium category  exists for each of the food groups, offering grain-free, non-GMO, Organic and  Essential Nutrients, often in flexible pouches to deliver freshness.  Certainly, heavy-weight bulk bags and canned  foods (for both dogs and cats) are still popular formats.
Treats and  snacks are the fastest growing segment of the pet food market, according  to PMMI Business Intelligence.  With a  CAGR of 6.3% through 2024, market share will come primarily from wet and dry  food although these two segments, historically strong, are not expected to lose  significant market share.
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On the  nutraceutical front, there is a lot of excitement for CBD products.  According to the report, CBD still has not  found its way into mainstream pet food suppliers’ menu offerings due to  hesitation over regulations that would penalize CPGs  CBD products  would require dedicated production and packaging lines, which presents an  opportunity for OEMs to capitalize on the growth in equipment demand whenever  CBD adoption becomes mainstream.
Freshpet Building Pet Food Manufacturing  Plant         
 
                                                                    
North America is expected to  hold its lock on 39 percent of the global pet food market through 2024.  Africa, with only five percent of the current  market, will see compound annual growth rate in sales of 14 percent, and could  overtake Europe, which will only grow at four percent.
PMMI  members can download the entire report for free.  Non-members have the option of downloading a  FREE Executive Summary below.