Chinese smart pet products are gaining significant traction in the global market, with local manufacturers reporting a surge in overseas orders as buyers at the recent Asia Pet Expo in Shanghai turn their attention to China's technological innovations.
So far, the urban dog and cat consumer market in China has surpassed 310 billion yuan (about 46.11 billion U.S. dollars).
The 28th Pet Fair Asia, which concluded in Shanghai recently, attracted over 530,000 visitors and more than 2,600 domestic and international exhibitors.
Many overseas buyers turned their attention to China's smart pet products.
"Pet technology, maybe we will need to update every year. We already received many good feedbacks from the customer to the China product in Vietnam market," said a Vietnamese buyer at the expo.
"Chinese products are very good in terms of the AI technologies there. Now, I feel in AI, the Chinese are leading the world. We hope that we'll get a lot of products," said an Indian purchaser at the expo.
"Chinese people are very creative. Every year we come to see new products so that is why we are attending the exhibition," said another Indian buyer.
At a smart pet washing and drying equipment manufacturer in Cixi City, east China's Zhejiang Province, workers are kicking into high gear to assemble pet dryers.
Once packaged, the products will be shipped to the United States.
The company owner said that overseas orders have been steadily increasing recently, prompting the production line to work overtime to meet the demand.
"We basically have to produce several thousand units every day. Our main markets are Europe, Australia, North America, and some Southeast Asian markets. Based on this year's figures, (overseas orders) may total around 10 million yuan to 20 million yuan," said Wei Naijian, co-founder of JirPet Technology Co., Ltd.
Wei said that when the company started in 2017, it focused primarily on the domestic market, but shifted its focus to overseas markets beginning in 2024. In the first half of this year, the company's overseas sales volume surged by more than 55 percent year on year.
In the first half of this year, Ningbo Customs processed export declarations for pet-related products valued at 2.24 billion yuan, up 21.7 percent year on year.
Experts say that Chinese companies are expanding their presence in overseas pet markets not only through supply chain advantages but also through their pricing power when dealing directly with overseas consumers.
They say the pet product market boasts a broad potential going forward.
"Currently, the global market for smart pet products is estimated to be between 8 billion U.S. dollars and 18 billion U.S. dollars. By around 2030, it is expected to reach between 15 billion U.S. dollars and 30 billion U.S. dollars and the broader pet tech ecosystem could hit between 30 billion U.S. dollars and 50 billion U.S. dollars," said Cui Lili, deputy director of the Institute of Digital Economy at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.
Chinese smart pet products capture global market amid surging overseas orders
