As more folk advance into money across Africa, pet ownership turns into a marker of center-class life in Africa with Mordor Intelligence projecting the continent’s pet food market to grow at a compound annual growth charge of 12.28%, outpacing the worldwide life like of 8.54%.
SPECIAL REPORT | BIRD AGENCY | At Karura Woodland, one in all Nairobi’s lushest spots for weekend walks, the different of canines padding down the trails has swelled, seen Servita Verma, who automatically walks her Terrier, Chali, there.
Verma outdated to maneuver for over an hour on most weekday mornings, the quieter days, and easiest encountered a handful of fellow dog owners.
“Now,” she mentioned, adjusting Chali’s leash, “you hear barks at some level of the path. There’s frequently a husky or a Chow Chow earlier than us, or a Shih Tzu sniffing thru the bushes.”
On weekends, the park, fiercely defended against encroachment from developers by the unhurried Nobel Peace laureate Prof. Wangari Maathai, frequently turns into a pageantry of dog breeds: shaggy Komondors, puffy Pomeranians, Dobermans and stern-faced Rottweilers trotting beside joggers and households.
Across Africa, pet ownership is rising, fuelled by changing attitudes round pet ownership and increasing disposable incomes.
As household earnings grow, the continent’s center class is expanding, with 21 countries projected to produce economic growth exceeding 5% in 2025, based on the African Pattern Monetary institution.
Overall, Africa’s economy is anticipated to upward thrust from 3.3% in 2024 to a few.9% in 2025, reaching 4% in 2026. This monetary shift is utilizing elevated consumer spending, with more Africans investing in pet care companies.
Africa’s center and upper-center earnings segments are growing, with 21 countries now labeled as decrease-center-earnings and eight, alongside with South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia, falling into the upper-center-earnings bracket, based on World Monetary institution data.
But growth in disposable household earnings is uneven, with economic shocks slowing growth in countries indulge in Nigeria, where the cost of issues and companies has surged in unhurried 2023 following gas subsidy cuts and a spicy currency devaluation.
Nonetheless, in that populous market, as in numerous parts of Africa, as more households advance into money, pet ownership is turning into phase of center-class life, namely in cities.
Tellingly, the continent’s pet food market is projected to grow at an annual charge of 12.28% in four years, outpacing global averages. In Kenya by myself, pet owners employ between 2,200–3,000 Kenyan shillings (US$19–US$26) on a 5kg salvage of organic food.
The shift is seen in most necessary cities indulge in Lagos, Johannesburg, Cairo, and Accra, where center-class households are embracing pets.
Extra rescue and animal treatment centres are opening in most necessary cities, reflecting a growing see of canines as companions quite than security assets, and a willingness amongst owners to undertake quite than buy.
Beyond the continent, pet ownership is also increasing, seriously in millennial and Gen Z households. Buenos Aires, Argentina is mentioned to be the pet capital of the arena, with figures from public idea surveys exhibiting that nearly 80% of the metropolis’s households contain a pet – that’s 20% elevated than the pet ownership charge in the in style metropolis in the United States, based on the Associated Press.
Within Africa, cats, too, are phase of the pet state, with South Africa by myself having 2 million home kitties and over 7.4 million canines, with feline-linked spending anticipated to take care of hiking.
Statista figures demonstrate that South Africa’s pet food market amounted to $596.17 million (DiMarket places the figure at US$800 million) in earnings in 2025 as of March, with an annual growth charge of 12.20% (CAGR 2025-2030).
In global comparison, nevertheless, the United States led the market, producing $62 billion in earnings in 2025 in the review interval.
Per capita spending on pet food in South Africa become US$9.21 in 2025, reflecting the increasing prioritisation of pet nutrition amongst customers.
Amazon has also expanded its South African operations to encompass pet food and thoroughly different linked provides, recognising the market’s likely.
In Egypt, the pet care market has seen in style growth no topic economic challenges, with dry pet food final the dominant category and native manufacturers gaining market share attributable to import restrictions.
The development of pet humanisation continues to power query for prime class products, while retail e-commerce is emerging because the quickest-growing gross sales channel.
Meanwhile, Kenya and Nigeria path South Africa in spending but are catching up shortly. Nairobi by myself has seen a surge in excessive-stay pet retailers, dog grooming vans, and vet clinics that now offer tooth scaling and flea shampoos.
Kenya’s market will not be any longer but as inclined as South Africa’s, but it absolutely is picking up tempo. In Johannesburg and Cape Town, query is already diversified. Veterinary diets, cat-particular meals and senior pet formulation are widely available.
At Petzone in Westlands, a in style Nairobi suburb, 2 kg baggage of grain-free salmon kibble take a seat alongside imported cat pâtés and probiotic chunk sticks.
Nigeria, where pet food imports dropped a great deal final year, is more and more leaning on home that you may well be recall to mind picks. But query hasn’t eased, with nearly half of of urban Nigerian households now reporting owning a pet, based on latest consumer data.
Reuters’ latest diagnosis displays that Nigeria’s pet market has been tormented by rising charges, with inflation reaching 34.80% final December sooner than easing to 23.71% in April.
A 2023 gaze by be taught agency TGM Statbox discovered that round 42% of Nigerians owned pets, but feeding them has change into more and more costly.
The price of a 15-kg salvage of pet food rose from 40,000 Naira (US$25.70) to 70,000 Naira, matching the nation’s minimal monthly wage. Pet food imports are also declining, anticipated to fall from 1.3 million kg in 2023 to 769,000 kg by 2028, while native pet food producers are seeing elevated query.
In Nigeria, nevertheless, inflation and currency pressures like pushed many households to alter, with some turning to native pet food that you may well be recall to mind picks as charges upward thrust.
Native entrepreneurs are all of a sudden responding to the different in pet food, with avid gamers such as South Africa’s Afrique Pet Meals, founded in 2003, ramping up manufacturing.
Africa for Investors (AFI), a matchmaking portal linking global investors to alternatives on the continent, parts to pet food as one in all the most lucrative but least exploited commerce ventures.
“Africa’s successfully to assign agricultural and livestock resources assign a particular different for the pet food commerce. With regionally sourced formulation indulge in maize, sorghum and excessive-quality meats, you may well produce nutritious pet food for canines and cats while tapping into a growing market,” it eminent.
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Seth Onyango, fowl epic agency
