Expert predicted pet food costs to rise in 2025

Pet food will go up in price in 2024 due to preparations for the introduction of mandatory labeling, Grigory Balagurov, director of the Law and Health Foundation for the Protection of Food and Packaging Quality, told Izvestia. At the same time, he predicted the continuation of cost growth.

Since the beginning of 2024, the cost of pet food has increased by more than a third, and in the premium segment prices for some positions have increased by 80%, the expert said.

At the end of December last year, the highest prices for cat and dog food were observed in pet stores, the lowest - in non-specialized retail. The cost of non-specialized food for cats and dogs in Russia ranged from 300 to 700 rubles per 1 kg, the fund noted.

"The growth of prices for pet food occurs annually. In 2024, to the traditional reasons - the increase in the cost of production, including raw materials, costs associated with logistics and distribution of the product, preparation for the introduction of mandatory labeling was also added," the expert explained.

Domestic producers, he said, are trying to determine the upcoming costs of labeling both in production and in retail.

"In addition, they are trying to understand how many percent markup on labeling will be from the turnover or from the cost of production," Balagurov added.

Among other factors affecting the price of feed, the expert named the rise in the price of meat and fish raw materials - the main ingredients of pet diets.

"Another reason is related to the departure of imported brands, which in one way or another created a competitive environment. Russian companies have partly lost the motivation to compete with foreign producers in introducing new products into the range, developing innovative diets," Balagurov pointed out.

In 2025, prices for pet food will continue to rise, the expert predicted. He suggested that if the existing key rate of the Central Bank, plans to introduce mandatory labeling and other factors are maintained, prices for pet food may increase within 25-30%.

At the same time, as told in the Center for Development of Advanced Technologies (the state operator of the labeling system "Honest Mark"), the introduction of labeling has not affected the cost of goods in any of the 24 commodity groups, as well as will not affect the cost of wet pet food.

"The cost of the code is fixed and amounts to 50 kopecks. According to the NIFI of the Ministry of Finance, the overall impact of labeling on the cost of products is no more than 1% over six years. The costs of connection to labeling are one-time, moreover, inexpensive "box solutions" have been developed for representatives of small and medium-sized businesses: such kits are already pre-configured and ready to work immediately after connection", - stated in the message.

Earlier, on December 11, in the press service of the CRPT reported that in Russia almost 12% increase in the number of legal importers of dry food due to labeling. The second stage of mandatory labeling of this group of goods will begin on March 1, 2025 and will be introduced for wet feed.