Keeping pets is becoming an “expensive pleasure”

The cost of pet food is skyrocketing – some products have managed to rise in price by 100%.

Pet store owners explain why this is happening – Newsbeast talks about everything in detail. Amid some scarcity of in-demand items or a significant increase in their cost in supermarkets, cat and dog food in pet stores also show similar trends. Some animal products have disappeared, others are scaring off with price tags, clearly demonstrating disruptions in the supply chain and global changes in the global economy. The owner of a large pet store in the northern metropolitan suburb of Pavlos Mammonas talks in detail about the reasons for the rise in prices:

“The smallest increase in the price of a product is between 10% and 15%, and the largest is 100%. Let me give you an example: a package of one kilogram of croquettes, which used to cost 1 euro, now costs 1.15 euros. But there is also pet food, which instead of 1 euro now costs 2 euros. It has a high grain content. We all know what is happening with cereals and how much their prices have risen because of the war and the difficulties in growing them. Almost all feeds have a higher or lower percentage of cereals, ranging from 30% to 70%.

Secondly, most of the food sold in pet stores, including ours, comes from China. From 2,000 euros, container rentals have now reached 20,000 euros. That is, an increase in travel expenses automatically increases the prices of our products.

Thirdly, the frightening rise in prices, especially for canned food, depends not so much on the content as on the aluminum packaging. Products in these packages (aluminum, copper and iron) topped the price increase by 65% ​​in three months. You can see a rise in prices in supermarkets for those products that are sold in such packaging (tomato paste, for example).

Every 15 days in our store there is an increase in prices, every two weeks we change the price tags. Neither we nor the wholesalers, whose fixed costs have also risen significantly, are now unable to compensate for this increase. In terms of consumer behavior, we see that people limit the purchase of these products, but do not refuse them, since this is the main food of their pets.

Something similar to the publication was told by the owner of another large pet store, Georgos Tsaldaris:

“The rate of increase in the cost of pet food is currently between 20% and 25% compared to a month and a half ago. Until the beginning of March, we bought a bag of dry food at 9 euros per 20 kg, and now – at 13 euros. Shipping costs also increase. From Italy, for example, the delivery of goods by truck already costs 2,900 euros instead of 2,200 euros before. There are already early signs of a shortage of imported feed, which makes up almost 80% of the products on the market – we only produce 20% in Greece.”

Mr. Mammonas thinks, writes newsbeast.grthat the shortage of food for pets will remain and an alternative to the usual feed should be sought:

“Even if the lack of feed does not become immediate, it will inevitably become a reality in a few years. That is why many companies have begun to create and experiment with alternative feeds. In Greece it is still something alien or even disgusting because these specific protein foods are based on insects – caterpillars, nymphs, butterflies, etc. But they have already been tested and work well. America and Germany even started their production.”

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