Global solutions for the pet food industry

The Diana Group is working hard to expand across the world. Which regions do you intend to focus on chiefly in future?Over the past few years, Diana has strengthened its position as a leading international player in various product categories and in several regions including Asia, the USA, Latin America and eastern Europe. For example, high-growth countries such as Brazil, Russia and India represent an increasing share of turnover: from 17 per cent in 2007 to more than 30 per cent today. Diana now generates 50 per cent of its turnover outside Europe and aims to increase this figure to 60-70 per cent in the near future.Can you see different expectations in pet food markets in different regions? Can you give any examples?Thanks to our strategy "The Closer, The Better", our local teams spread on the five continents have a keen understanding of local pet food markets. Mature markets such as North America, western Europe and Japan face greater economic challenges which reduce market growth. In these regions, premiumisation and humanisation are strong value market drivers for the coming years, fuelling the growth of premium pet food. Accordingly we support pet food manufacturers by offering innovative functional and sensorial solutions providing product differentiation and added value. Emerging markets such as Latin America, Asia and eastern Europe enjoy better economic perspectives. In these markets the economy segment benefits from consumers moving away from table scraps and trading up to mid-priced pet food. Local pet food manufacturers are thus increasingly looking for solutions to increase the performance of their product range. With the opening of plants in China and South Africa in 2012, SPF (part of the Petfood Division) supports manufacturers in their development projects, offering local industry players performing and safe palatability solutions.The challenges of the leading pet product manufacturers have changed dramatically in the last few years. How is the Diana Petfood Division able to support the pet industry?The division creates tailor-made solutions from natural ingredients for its customers in order to reinforce their product's performance to face these new challenges. Over the years, the division has developed an overall approach to dog and cat well-being and to pet owner satisfaction. Sharing this common DNA, each activity of the division has its own field of expertise: SPF is the global leader in palatability solutions. Panelis provides…