Petfood Industry Electronic Newsletter December 19, 2006

December 19, 2006
Volume 6, Number 24

Happy Holidays from Petfood Industry!!

This newsletter is also available in an Acrobat PDF format. To download the PDF click on the following link: Dec19PDF.

Your free copy of the Petfood Industry Electronic Newsletter is sponsored by AFB International, maker of Optimizor® and BioFlavor® brand palatants. AFB is the petfood industry's first choice for dog and cat food palatants. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.afbinternational.com.

Here's what's been happening lately:

Industry news

Aprea remembered by Vector Packaging
Vector Packaging is saddened to announce the untimely passing of its founder and chairman, John J. Aprea, on November 25 after a brief illness. Prior to founding Vector Packaging, Aprea was the director of marketing and international export for Union Carbide's Films Packaging Division. He leaves behind a wife, Linda, and a daughter, Elizabeth.

APHIS urged to withdraw plans to impose user fees
Four major organizations representing the grain handling, bulk grain export, grain processing, feed and petfood industries recently submitted a joint statement urging the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to withdraw or further delay implementation of an emergency interim final rule that would impose user fees on all commercial conveyances entering the United States from Canada.

APHIS issued the interim final rule on August 25 on an emergency basis without providing the opportunity for prior public comment. The regulation, if implemented, would remove the user fee exemption currently granted by APHIS to Canadian conveyances entering the United States. It also would subject all commercial conveyances—trucks, rail cars, vessels and airliners—entering the United States from Canada to agricultural quarantine inspections, regardless of whether they were transporting agricultural products.

APHIS announced on November 17 that it was delaying the interim final rule's scheduled November 24 implementation date. The agency's action delayed imposition of the user fees to March 1 for rail, truck, vessel and other commercial conveyances, except for airliners and airline passengers, where they would take effect January 1.

The organizations noted that APHIS had not provided any information as to whether it had conducted a formal scientific risk assessment that would justify the interim final rule. The NGFA and the other groups encouraged APHIS to explore several alternatives. For further information see: http://www.grainnet.com/info/articles_print.html?ID=39957.

Market trends insights needed!
Give us your insights into the market trends affecting your business and you could win free registration to Petfood Forum US! Packaged Facts and Petfood Industry need your participation in a survey that will help us identify the most important pet market trends globally. Results will be presented at Petfood Forum US and Petfood Forum Europe, as well as in an upcoming Packaged Facts report on the global petfood market.

Those who complete the survey will be eligible to win free registration for Petfood Forum US, to be held in Chicago in April, 2007. One winner will be chosen randomly from all who complete a questionnaire (limit one response per individual) and register for the prize drawing.

Click the following link to take the survey. This research is being led by David Lummis, the pet market analyst for Packaged Facts, a leader in pet-related market research reports in the United States, and Joyce Neth, director of research/insight at WATT, publisher of Petfood Industry.

Gourmet petfoods popular in Japan
A variety of high-end petfoods, ranging from one made from fresh meat, tuna, scallops to crab meat, etc. are becoming increasingly popular in Japan, according to Yahoo! Asia news. Runfree Inc. in Musashino, Tokyo, Japan, is a butcher specializing in dog food. In addition to fresh horse meat, pork and chicken, the store also sells its original dried variety of dog food by order using meat and five different types of grain. It also have a special menu for an increasing number of small dogs afflicted by heart disease and obesity. There are also a number of websites for Japanese customers selling specialty petfoods, including ingredients such as Bifidobacteria, agaricus mushrooms and green tea essence. Cat food, which in Japan used to be known as plain "nekomamma" (cat meal), now has varieties containing whole scallops in addition to crab meat and premium varieties of short-grain rice.

According to market research firm Fuji Keizai Co., Japan's pet product market will reach 380 billion yen in fiscal 2007. The market for petfood will stay almost the same, growing 1% to 287 billion yen because consumption per dog has been shrinking. However, markets for premium petfood and nutritional supplements have been growing rapidly, the firm says, aided by rising health consciousness of pet owners in Japan.

Market data

Each month the Petfood Industry E-newsletter will bring you the latest market data available from several different sources including Euromonitor International, Information Resources Inc. (IRI) and ACNielsen.

US food, drug and mass merchandisers (excluding Wal-Mart) cat snacks/beverage sales for the 52 weeks ending October 8, 2006. Source: Information Resources Inc.

Vendor	US$ sales	% chg vs. 2005	Unit sales	% chg vs. 2005
Whiskas Temptations	$38.3 million	50.5%	$24.3 million	49.3%
Purina Whisker Lickins	$18.5 million	-5.3%	$9.7 million	-3.8%
Friskies cat snacks	$12.7 million	-16.1%	$6.9 million	-13.5%
Pounce cat snacks	$8.9 million	-12.6%	$7.2 million	-14.6%
Pounce Tartar Control	$5.0 million	-20.3%	$2.8 million	-22.4%
Purina Aquari Yums	$3.4 million	-25.4%	$2.2 million	-23.5%
Purina Whisker Lickins Kluckers	$3.0 million	0.2%	$2.4 million	0.0%
Whiskas cat snacks	$2.3 million	-1.2%	$1.0 million	-11.8%
Total	$116 million	7.1%	$71.2 million	5.6%

New report: Dog treats show impressive growth in Australia
Dog treats was the best performing subsector in the Australian petfood market between 2000-2005, recording average annual growth of 15% in current value terms, according to Euromonitor International's Pet Food and Pet Care in Australia report. This growth trend is expected to continue, as dog owners are increasingly buying dog treats to train their dogs, reward their obedience or simply as a treat. Manufacturers are seeing dog treats as a growing and highly competitive area, and therefore are constantly creating new products.

The dog treats market is largely dominated by Masterfoods' leading brand, Schmackos, which achieved a 39% share of its value sales in 2004. The Schmackos brand has a large variety of products, extending to different tastes, shapes and attributes. Friskies Lucky Dog Bones from Nestlé Purina PetCare was the second most popular brand with a 10% share of dog treats value sales, followed by Pedigree from Masterfoods.

Euromonitor International publishes petfood and pet care reports on 52 country markets. Click here for more information about petfood and pet care reports from Euromonitor International and to buy reports online.

E-news

Making marketing automatic
The effort of planning and automating your marketing campaigns in advance through matrix mail can really pay off, according to Ecommerce Times. A matrix mail software application works with your MCIF (Marketing Customer Information File) or CRM system. Once the matrix is defined, it literally runs automatically each month at the touch of a few buttons.

What makes a matrix mailing unique is that it includes sequential contacts. It includes the selection of initial qualified customers, multiple contacts over a set period of time and repeated qualifications for each contact. For example, you might mail various offers to a target group (or segment) over a six-month period, but they will only get each of the offers if they do not own the product offered at the time of mailing.

The most popular reason for conducting a matrix campaign is cross-selling. For instance, you can develop a program for your new customers or for other targeted customers in order to increase the overall product penetration of your customer base. You can also use retention matrix mailings to retain customers who have the highest risk of ending their relationship with you. The end of a contract period can be used as a “triggered event” in the selection criteria of a program to target high-risk customers and send a sequence of mailings offering new products and services and encouraging them to maintain their relationship.

Product news

Quick-clean centrifugal screener
A new Centri-Sifter centrifugal screener model “GO” from Kason Corp. features a cantilevered shaft with two, externally-mounted bearings between the screening chamber and motor drive, allowing all internals to slide freely from the shaft end for cleaning, screen changes or inspection. Wide spacing between the bearings, a large diameter shaft and a flexible shaft coupling combine to prevent vibration, even at high speeds under heavy, imbalanced loads, according to the company.

The new screener is intended for food, dairy and pharmaceutical applications requiring thorough wash-down, as well as other applications involving frequent screen changes/inspections or runs of multiple materials where cross-contamination is of concern.

Research notes

New BSE hypothesis being studied in EU
Scrapie is generally considered, but not proven, to be the source of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The European Commission's Fifth Framework Program has funded a five-year project (the SC GUT project) to address scrapie and BSE in sheep. The SC GUT project studies scrapie and BSE in sheep and mice, using novel experimental methods. It is hoped that these studies will result in a better understanding of the early pathogenesis of scrapie and BSE, and this will contribute to the better application of diagnostic methods and control strategies, leading to safer food sources for consumers.

Results from this project are demonstrating that although deformed prions are a characteristic of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), it is possible that they are not the initial infectious agent. This theory is based on how these proteins are absorbed in the sheep gut. In addition, experiments suggest that in the normal animal almost all ingested prions will be digested before it could be absorbed by the gut—supporting the theory that prions do not cause the disease by passing through the gut wall.

The new discovery does not rule out the possibility that prion proteins, if absorbed in sufficient amounts, might still cause disease, or it may be that prions directly infect nerve endings by some other mechanism.

Positions available

Our help wanted listings aim to inform petfood industry professionals about employment opportunities worldwide. Contact gstadel@wattnet.net for more information on placing a listing in upcoming issues.

References

Watt Books

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Contact information

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