The dog food sale in the UAE is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 15.4 percent to US$69.2 million in 2026, up from US$39 million recorded sale in 2021, according to a report by Euromonitor International, primarily driven by the influx of international premium branded plant-based dog food, such as V-planet that offers better nutrition, good health and longer life to pet dogs.
This is higher than the 12.4 percent CAGR recorded in the previous four years, from 2016-2020, although the growth rate of the dog population is expected decline more than half to 2 percent between 2021 to 2026, from 4.2 percent recorded in the previous four years from 2016 to 2020.
The dog population is expected to grow at a CAGR of 2 percent to 88,300 in 2026, compared to 81,600 recorded in 2021. The increase in the dog food sale in the UAE at the backdrop of a decline in the dog population growth rate is primarily driven by an increased demand of plant-based vegan food and premium food for dogs.
“The global pet food industry has reached great heights in recent years, amassing an estimated worth of over US$91.1 billion. This is expected to boom to even greater amounts in the years ahead, with a large part of this growth due to innovation coming from the rising demand for plant-based dog foods,” said a report published by Vegconomist.
“Though still a niche industry, with vegan and plant-based claims appearing on just 2.1 percent of dog-food products worldwide, it’s finding more shelf space compared to five years ago, when only 0.7 percent of dog-food had a plant-based claim, according to Innova Market Insights. And such plant-based claims are growing rapidly in dog-food (+40%) compared to the growth of all new dog-food launches (+5%) (Global, compound annual growth rate, 2018–2022).”
The health benefits of plant-based vegan healthy dog food have led to the introduction of global dog food brands such as V-planet by Anything Vegan in the UAE, which is gaining popularity every month. The switch to veganism is a healthy, humane choice. A plant-based diet in pups lowers the risks of obesity, cancer and many other ailments. Aside from health motivations, many are switching to vegan diets for ethical reasons. As another example, to curb the environmental effects of meat production and reduce animal suffering.
Mostly, dog foods are derived from human-leftover foods or waste. When the dog is a pup of 0 to 4 years, in most of cases people don’t see the issues, but as they grow old, they start showing different illnesses and symptoms and suffer throughout their lives.
“Vegan dog food will be the future of Canine nutrition. There are growing numbers of research and studies that have proven that dogs on vegan diets have a lower risk of developing chronic health conditions such as heart diseases, cancer and arthritis. This is likely due to the fact that plant-based diets are naturally low in saturated fat and high in antioxidants, which are both beneficial for their well-being and good health,” Nisha Bhambhaani Managing Director of Anything Vegan, UAE, says.