For several weeks, the animal feed sector has been experiencing supply difficulties. The reasons given are many.
By Valentin Dechambre for Le Point
© CHRISTOPHE BARREAU / MAXPPP / PHOTOPQR/L’INDEPENDENT/MAXPPP
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DHalf-empty kibble shelves, missing references… Finding food for your pets is becoming difficult in supermarkets and pet stores. Shortages linked to the lack of supply from manufacturers of croquettes and other pâtés. If the inflation rate on these products was already high, the rupture rate is also high, relates BFM TV. According to the specialized institute IRI, it is around 10%, up 2.3 points over one year. And on dry food for cats, the breakdown amounts to 10.2%, up 4.2 points over one year.
To explain these shortages in stores, several factors are invoked. The Purina France brand justified this dynamic by a global economic context which “results in an exceptional increase in production costs”. The increase in demand, since the Covid-19 crisis, is also in question. The company is having difficulty “absorbing this demand” due to “the situation which has slowed down investment projects”.
Swine fever and bird flu
Another element put forward by Rodolphe Bonnasse, president of the Aristide group and specialist in mass distribution: “a break in the production chain”, he assured the news channel. The swine fever and avian flu that affected producers led to “a lack of raw materials”. “90% of dog food comes from pigs or poultry,” he said. Thus, “producers have favored outlets for meat for human rather than animal consumption”.
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To try to remedy this situation, manufacturers are looking for “new formulas”. But the addition of breaks with price increases weighs on the budget of households with pets. According to Rodolphe Bonnasse, the increase is “140 euros per year” additional on average compared to 2020, for a dog or cat owner.