Russian pet food industry fears stock shortages and price hikes after war in Ukraine

International pet food brands have announced the suspension of their operations in the country while the local industry is calling companies not to stop the supplies to all 70 million pets in Russia.

The Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselhoznadzor), a federal executive body from the Ministry of Agriculture, is meeting on March 21st with a delegation of Russian pet food producers to discuss import replacement and supply diversification on the domestic market.

Zooinform, on behalf of the Russian pet industry, wrote an open letter to the international pet industry clarifying that the pet industry in the country are against the invasion in Ukraine and calling corporations not to stop pet product supplies to Russia.

'Each of us makes his or her own decisions. You are making yours. And we respect any of them. We will appreciate it if you choose not to stop pet product supplies to Russia. All 70 million pets in Russia need your products,' it reads.

'Pets are not involved in politics, they are not responsible for conflicts or wrong decisions made by somebody else and they should not suffer because of those decisions.'

Among the leading pet food brands, Mars already announced that it would stop importing and exporting products in or out of Russia. The company also said that it suspended any new investments in Russia as well as social media and advertising activity in Russia and Belarus. Nestlé also said it would stop new investments.

Other major pet food companies remained silent about their future plans on the Russian market, though every new company closing or scaling down business in the country add some public pressure on those who decided to stay. To date, more than 300 Western brands from different industries publicly declared their will to leave the country.  

Industry insiders pointed out that almost all pet stores in the country will run out of stock in the next 2 to 3 months if the situation does not change.

The price of pet food on the Russian grocery shelves increased between 25% and 40% since the beginning of the invasion. Furthermore, the price of delivering pet food to the Russian market reportedly went up, as container shipping companies Ocean Network Express, Hapag Lloyd, and Maersk suspended bookings to and from Russia shortly after the beginning of the war.

Source: Global Pets