The largest manufacturers of cat and dog food have promised to reduce prices – Kommersant

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia recognized Mars and Nestlé as occupying a dominant position in the cat and dog food market. As stated in the service’s press release, the companies “expressed their readiness to take on voluntary obligations to provide partner retail chains with promotional discounts of up to 30% on a certain range of food for cats and dogs.” Mars told Kommersant that it has not raised prices on pet products for more than a year. Nestle Russia LLC, as reported by the FAS, has decided to reduce prices for Darling brand food.

According to the service, in 2023, the market share of the two companies amounted to 73.1% of the total sales of food for cats and dogs. The department conducted the analysis in connection with citizens’ complaints.

Mars said that the company has not raised prices for animal products for 1.5 years, despite the rising costs of raw materials, packaging and logistics, and also regularly conducts promotions, including charity ones.

As Kommersant was informed by the National Association of the Pet Industry, the share of imported pet food on the Russian market at the end of 2023 is tentatively estimated at less than 10% versus 15–20% in 2021. Association President Kirill Dmitriev attributes the decrease in the share of imports to restrictions imposed by Rosselkhoznadzor on the import of feed of certain brands and difficulties with the purchase of some foreign brands.

Read more in the Kommersant article. “Pets have become completely domesticated”.