| Urban pet consumption market | RMB 279.3 billion | China’s urban dog and cat consumption market in 2023. | Indicates the size of the addressable companion-animal market supporting premium nutrition, functional food, treats, and freeze-dried products. | Pet Industry White Paper |
| Urban dog population | Approximately 51.75 million | Dogs kept in urban households in China, 2023. | Provides a demand base for complete dog food, toppers, training treats, and high-meat snack formats. | Pet Industry White Paper |
| Urban cat population | Approximately 69.80 million | Cats kept in urban households in China, 2023; included as a broader pet-food demand indicator. | Although this table focuses on dog food, the larger cat population supports shared manufacturing capacity, ingredient procurement, and private-label production. | Pet Industry White Paper |
| Pet-food market category | Reported as the largest pet-consumption category | China’s urban pet-consumption market, 2023; includes staple food, treats, and related nutrition products. | Supports continued investment in product development, palatability testing, nutritional formulation, and premium food manufacturing. | Pet Industry White Paper |
| Freeze-dried product positioning | Premium and high-meat segment | Industry positioning rather than a separately published official market total. | Freeze-dried products generally compete through meat inclusion, low-temperature processing, ingredient transparency, convenience, and premium pricing. | FAO Processing Guidance |
| Relevant customs classification | HS 2309.10 | Dog or cat food put up for retail sale; used as a trade-data proxy for many commercial pet-food products. | Useful for screening China’s export activity, but the code does not isolate freeze-dried dog food from kibble, wet food, treats, or other retail pet food. | UN Statistics Division |
| Standalone freeze-dried export code | Not separately disclosed | Public customs systems generally group freeze-dried pet food within broader pet-food or prepared-animal-feed classifications. | Supplier comparisons should combine customs data with factory audits, product specifications, certificates, samples, and destination-market compliance records. | General Administration of Customs of China |
| Export-market compliance | Market-specific requirements | Requirements vary by destination and may include facility registration, labeling, ingredient restrictions, veterinary documents, and microbiological controls. | A capable supplier should demonstrate traceability, batch records, testing procedures, export documentation, and compliance with the destination country’s pet-food rules. | WOAH Standards |
| Key quality-control checkpoints | Moisture, water activity, pathogens, oxidation, and shelf life | Typical controls for low-moisture, meat-based pet-food products. | These controls help buyers evaluate product safety, storage stability, palatability consistency, and the reliability of private-label or contract manufacturing. | U.S. FDA Pet Food Guidance |
| Recommended supplier-evaluation factors | 10 core factors | Factory qualification, ingredient traceability, freeze-drying capacity, formulation support, testing, packaging, MOQ, lead time, export experience, and after-sales control. | Provides a neutral framework for identifying suitable Chinese suppliers without ranking companies or relying on brand claims. | ISO Food Safety Guidance |