US Pet Food Packaging

Report Overview

Featuring 105 tables and 79 figures

What packaging types are making inroads in wet food applications?

• Plastic cups and trays

Demand for pet food and treat packaging is forecast to increase 3.3% per year to $4.0 billion in 2028, with volume rising 2.9% per year to 26.2 billion units:

• Two key consumer trends – the humanization of pets (pets as family) and growing sales of pet food through nontraditional outlets such as e-commerce, club stores, and subscriptions – are not only impacting market growth but changing the types of packaging used.

• Plastic film-based packaging will see by far the fastest growth as performance and convenience drive packaging decisions. Plastic will soon become the most common material for pet food packaging in units. 

Fresh Refrigerated & Frozen Pet Food Sales Spur Demand for New Packaging Formats

Much like in human food, consumers see “fresh” as healthier and higher quality than shelf stable food, and this perception, along with the rise of subscription pet food services, is driving strong sales growth in refrigerated and frozen pet food products. Fresh foods require different packaging than traditional dry and canned options, so the strong growth in these new formats is also driving demand for newer types of packaging such as pouches, chubs, and brick packs.

New Packaging Formats Continue to Replace Traditional Bags & Cans

Historically, pet food packaging was dominated by paper and woven polypropylene bags for dry food and metal cans for wet food. However, demand for these formats is expected to decline in unit terms as newer types of packaging such as pouches and other flexible packaging, as well as thermoformed plastic cups and trays, continue to take share of the pet food market:

• Pouches (both stand-up and flat formats) will continue to replace bags and containers for dry and semi-moist food due to their greater shelf appeal, superior graphics capabilities, resealability, and durability.

• Flexible packaging based on plastic film – including chubs and brick packs – are increasingly used for fresh pet food applications due to their performance and low cost.

• Plastic cups and trays with lidding will continue to make inroads in wet food applications as a result of their low cost, enhanced convenience, and easy opening features, disrupting the entrenched position of metal cans.

Growth in Subscriptions, Club & Specialty Stores, & E-Commerce Change Packaging Outlook  

A shift away from traditional grocery stores as the main retail outlet for pet food is also having a notable impact on pet food packaging, affecting both formats and materials:

• Sale of pet food through subscriptions has spiked in recent years with numerous new market entrants, including The Farmer’s Dog and Ollie, with most focused on selling fresh frozen dog food in new packaging formats.

• Pet food is increasingly purchased at pet specialty stores, such as Petco and PetSmart, as well as at club stores such as Costco, which impacts the brands and sizes of pet food products offered.

• E-commerce sales of pet food continue to expand the variety of pet food options available to consumers and provide convenience for buying bulk amounts of pet food, which in turn increases the need for secondary packaging.

Historical Market Trends

The market for pet food packaging consists of packaging used to ship, protect, display, and/or prolong the shelf life of dry, wet, fresh/refrigerated, and frozen items throughout the supply chain.

Major factors that determine demand for pet food packaging include:

• pet population and demographics (e.g., size and age distribution of pets, mix between cats and dogs, and specialty pet popularity)

• consumer preferences, including shifts between different types of food and convenience or value-based choices

• macroeconomic factors, such as levels of personal consumption expenditures and disposable income, and overall economic growth and inflation

• demographic trends (e.g., size and age distribution of the resident population, ethnic composition of the population, household size and formation activity, and geographic migration patterns)

• domestic meat output

• input costs including raw materials and energy costs

• package design considerations and properties of various packaging items in terms of protective requirements

Pet Food Packaging Product Trends

Market Value

A wide variety of packaging products are used by the pet food industry, but demand remains dominated by metal cans, bags, and pouches as primary packaging. Corrugated boxes and folding cartons are also important for use with multipacks and shipping individual containers to retail stores or direct to consumers.

Demand for pet food and treat packaging overall is expected to rise 3.3% annually to $4.0 billion in 2028. Growth in value terms will largely track unit gains as trends toward smaller packages and moderating inflation offset the expansion of more sophisticated, higher value packaging types.

Materials Competition

Pet food packaging is made from a variety of materials that compete on cost, performance, customer appeal, and increasingly, on sustainability factors. The major material types used in this market include paper and paperboard, metal, plastic, and textiles/woven packaging. Each of these materials offers advantages for specific pet food applications:

• Paper packaging offers versatility across a variety of flexible and rigid options, in addition to its favorable environmental profile and relatively low cost.

• Plastic pet food packaging benefits from light weight, a surface area suitable for enhanced graphics, clarity, moisture protection and low cost.

• Metal cans provide the greatest strength, durability, and shelf life among material types for pet food packaging and are also recyclable.

• Woven polypropylene materials used for bags offer better puncture resistance than paper and plastic, protection from flex cracking and other damage during shipping, and a glossy surface similar to that of plastic for flexible pet food packaging.

Other materials used for pet food packaging include textiles/woven plastic. Woven plastic (typically polypropylene) bags are used primarily for larger sized packaging of dry kibble but having been losing market share in all sizes to pouches.

Pricing & Inflation

Given the highly competitive nature of the pet food packaging industry, both in terms of competition within and among material types and between rigid and flexible packaging, pricing is an important factor in the success or failure of a given type of packaging. The primary determinant of pricing is the cost of raw materials, which include paper, paperboard, metal, and plastic resin, as well as adhesives, inks, and coatings. Raw material costs can represent 50%-60% of the final packaging price.

Price competition in the pet food packaging industry has historically been intense due to the prevalence of commodity type products. Pricing advantages for one material over another tend to fluctuate depending on economic conditions, raw material costs, capacity utilization and product availability, and levels of price discounting. Other considerations that influence pricing include design costs, shipping and filling costs, the degree of customization required, and competition from other packaging media. Costs associated with labor, production equipment, and environmental compliance are also key factors.

To remain price competitive, both within material sectors and in specific product formats, packaging manufacturers sometimes attempt to absorb the bulk of raw material price increases, especially minor price hikes, but more often must pass many of the material price increases to customers. The ability to raise prices may be limited under annual or multi-year supply contracts in which prices are fixed for a given period, an approach often used by large volume purchasers. Nonetheless, raw material and energy pricing volatility does affect the average price of pet food packaging significantly, with spikes in the cost of raw materials in recent years forcing plastic, metal, and paperboard container producers to raise package prices.

Pet Food Industry Overview

Pet Food Product Trends

Dry dog food has consistently been the dominant product of the pet food industry, accounting for by far the largest share of annual pet food shipments. This popularity can be attributed to several key factors, such as:

• low cost of production

• convenience

• long shelf life

• continued popularity of dogs as pets

• dogs’ high caloric needs relative to other pets

However, dry food in general is expected to lose share to other formats amid market maturity and growing competition from refrigerated and frozen foods.

Cat food will continue to be dominated by wet (canned) food. Wet cat food will continue to account for a healthy portion of annual shipments for a variety of reasons, including:

• convenience and cost-effectiveness

• the dietary needs of cats, which include foods with high protein content, meaty textures, and moisture

• long shelf life

Sales of fresh refrigerated and frozen pet foods have burgeoned, with shipments of these products seeing double-digit increases in recent years. These foods, which are primarily marketed toward dogs and cats, benefit from a number of consumer trends and advantages over traditional dry and canned food, including:

• increases in pet pampering and a growing perception that pets are part of families

• superior nutritional quality and ingredients, which are minimally processed and more similar to human food

• the popularity and convenience of online subscription services, which deliver regular shipments directly to consumers

• potential health benefits and pet life extension

Other pet food shipments are primarily bird seed, which is generally purchased in large quantities. Growth in this category will also be supported by the proliferation of newer pet foods that are specifically intended for niche pets such as rabbits, hamsters, and reptiles.

Report Details

This study analyzes the US market for pet food and treat packaging. Historical data (2013, 2018, and 2023) and forecasts for 2028 and 2033 are presented for pet food packaging demand in units and current US dollars (including inflation) by product, pet type, and food format. Annual data for 2020 to 2027 are also presented.

For purposes of this report, pets are defined as animals that are kept primarily for companionship, entertainment, or therapeutic purposes by humans. Pets come in various types, including:

• dogs

• cats

• birds

• other animals kept as pets including:

  • exotic pets such as hedgehogs or sugar gliders

  • freshwater and saltwater fish kept in aquariums or home ponds

  • reptiles such as snakes, turtles, and lizards

  • small mammals such as rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, and mice

Animals excluded from the scope of this report are the following:

• animals in zoos and wildlife preserves

• animals raised for fur

• laboratory animals

• livestock and farm animals (e.g., chickens, pigs, horses)

• wild birds and animals such as deer, stray dogs and wild canines (e.g., wolves and coyotes), stray cats and wild cats (tigers, lions, feral cats)

Pet products covered in the scope of this study include:

• dry and semi-moist pet food

• wet (canned) pet food

• refrigerated (chilled) pet food

• frozen pet food

• pet treats

Live insects and animals as food – such as mice, which are often fed to reptiles –are excluded from the scope of this study.
Packaging products covered in the scope of this report include:

• bags and sacks, including multiwall and coated paper bags, plastic bags, and woven bags

• boxes and cartons, including corrugated boxes and trays and folding cartons

• metal cans (steel and aluminum)

• plastic and paperboard containers such as:

  • plastic bottles jugs, jars, and pails

  • tubs and two-piece containers

  • other containers (e.g., gable top cartons, aseptic cartons, and composite cans)

• pouches, including stand-up, side-seal, and pillow pouches

• other packaging such as:

  • cups, trays, and bowls

  • wrap and lidding

  • chubs

  • all other packaging (e.g., sleeves, blister packaging, brick packs, interleaving)

Packaging materials include:

• paper and paperboard

• plastic (polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, and other plastic materials)

• metal (steel and aluminum)

• textiles/wovens

Both primary and secondary rigid packaging are included in the study in cases where the secondary packaging would typically be used beyond the point of sale. Primary packaging is defined as the packaging products that touch and contain the food. Secondary containers include products such as folding cartons used for sale of multipacks of pet food products. Also included are corrugated shipping boxes or merchandise display boxes used for shipping and displaying pet food in retail stores.

Excluded from the scope of this report are the following products:

• containers for pet health supplements and other non-food pet supplies

• pallets and pallet wrap

• pet food storage containers and pails

• separately sold closures

The study includes both captive and merchant pet food packaging production.