Sep 02, 2026
Introduction:
"In 1999, I set two goals for myself. The first goal is to make China the world's pet products manufacturing center, we have achieved; The second goal is to make Chinese pet companies become global compa have achieved; The second goal is to make Chinese pet companies become global companinies and Chinese brands become global brands, and we want to work harder."
On January 12, 2024, in an interview with pet industry, Cheng Yang, who has nearly 30 years of experience in creating a professional exhibition platform for the industry and is currently the chairman of the pet Industry Working Committee of China Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Association, continues to promote China's pet industry and enterprises to the world stage, and will live as a dictionary of the history of foreign trade history of China's pet industry. Said the above two sentences.
The first goal summarizes the past, and the second goal looks into the future. In the two-and-a-half hour interview, we reviewed the opportunities and challenges in the foreign trade development process of Chinese Pet enterprises based on the sharing of President Cheng Yang. At the same time, in the new environmental change and development proposition, she considered long-term, hoping that she and her new Pet Sourcing China global pet supply chain platform (hereinafter referred to as "PSC"), It can provide timely and effective help for the products, factories and brands of Chinese enterprises to go to sea.
PSC is entrusted by the industry, by the pet working committee, Peidi（Stock corporation） , Zhongchong（Stock corporation）, Yiyi （Stock corporation）, Tianyuan Pets, Yuanfei Pets, Guaibao Pets, Lusi （Stock corporation）, Langnuo Pets, Zhongheng Pets, Huasilian, Bitrecon , Boyu Group, Weihai Ace, Sensen Group, Tailian pets, it Buss and other leading pet industry enterprises and professional media, A global supply chain platform co-launched in December 2023.
n the future, the platform will focus on doing these things well:
One is to guide the development of the industry, in China and emerging markets to build an international trade show - Asia Pacific (Guangzhou) pet aquarium Fair (referred to as "pet fair"). At that time, the first pet fair will be held in Guangzhou Poly World Trade Exhibition Hall from November 5-7 this year, and pet practitioners at home and abroad will officially meet, witnessing the historical moment of China's pet industry people's own professional, efficient and reliable B2B pet international exhibition platform from the perspective of the industry.
Second, the platform will organize Chinese enterprises to participate in international exchange activities and exhibitions abroad, and will organize exhibitors and visiting groups of professional international exhibitions from nearly 30 countries and regions in 2024.
The third is to provide support for exchanges and interactions between Chinese pet owners and pet professional organizations and media around the world; The fourth is to provide the whole process services for Chinese enterprises to go overseas and factories to go overseas, including import and export policy guidance, international standard certification, market consulting, media promotion support and talent consulting services.
PS: In order to facilitate everyone to read, the following is the pet industry according to the interview content of Cheng Yang, president of the pet Working Committee, presented in the form of QA.
Chongyejia: As a practitioner who has witnessed the development and growth of China's pet foreign trade industry from 0 to 1, what stages have you gone through in the history of foreign trade development of Chinese pet enterprises and what are their specific performances?
Cheng Yang: It is not easy for the first generation of pet industry people to go abroad, unlike today's young entrepreneurial generation with relatively rich economic conditions, not very understanding of overseas advanced science and technology, and they were not very familiar with the rules of international trade, so it was very difficult to go to sea at that time.
Strictly speaking, pet economy is an imported economy, early in the domestic basically no market space, if the stage, China's pet enterprises foreign trade history, can be divided into four stages:
The first stage is the incubation period of enlightenment.
In the late 80's to the beginning of 90's, Zhejiang Wenzhou Pingyang began to produce pet bite glue, Shandong, Liaoning and other places began to produce pet snack chicken strips, Guangdong and other places appeared aquarium equipment processing plants, these formed the embryonic form of the development of China's pet industry, but this period of the pet industry is still a no guidance, no direction of development, showing a scattered and small state, This phase lasted until 1995.
The second stage is called the rapid development stage.
Since 1996, Chinese pet enterprises (note: at that time, there were 7 enterprises, mostly foreign trade companies) went abroad to Nuremberg, Germany to participate in the exhibition, which is the first time for Chinese pet enterprises to appear in overseas exhibitions; In the following time, he participated in pet exhibitions in France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Russia and other countries, and promoted the overseas market to constantly understand the Chinese pet industry by allowing domestic pet companies to contact overseas pet companies.
Since this year, China's pet industry has entered a period of rapid development, and the number of exhibitors and exhibition area have increased by nearly 300% every year.
The third stage is the period of high-quality development.
This stage originated from 2005 to 2019, in the context of China's accession to the World Trade Organization, the Chinese exhibition group frequently appeared in overseas pet exhibitions, during this period visited Europe, America, Oceania, Asia, Africa five continents, it can be said that as long as there are well-known and influential pet exhibitions abroad, we will not fall behind.
After having a general understanding of the culture, consumption habits and pet market of overseas countries, domestic pet companies began to adjust their products according to different regions, improve research and development capabilities and product quality, register more and more patents, create their own brands, and even go overseas to build their own factories.
The fourth stage is the transitional development period under special circumstances.
This stage is mainly from 2020 to 20223 years, as a period of special circumstances, for practitioners in China's pet industry, it is a stage that needs to be re-combed, re-adjusted and re-positioned.
chongyjia:When you think back to your career experience, the first time to go abroad, encounter the overseas pet market experience, what was the scene?
Cheng Yang: The first time I went abroad to attend a pet show was in Paris Pet Show in France in 1999. At that time, in addition to European companies, there were many pet companies from Japan and South Korea. My first reaction after watching the show was that the production of these pet products was not very difficult, and if Chinese pet companies came to participate, there would be a lot to be done.
At that time, I set two goals for myself on the plane back home:
The first goal is to build China's pet factory into a world pet products manufacturing center in ten years;
The second goal is to use another ten years to turn Chinese pet enterprises into global enterprises, so that Chinese pet brands can become world-class brands.
Looking back now, it was a time when we dared to dream, but also a time when we dared to put our dreams into practice.
Fortunately, since 2005, Chinese pet exhibitors have been the largest number of national exhibitors in major pet exhibitions in Europe and the United States every year; While China has become the world's factory, it has also reached the position of the global pet products manufacturing center in the pet industry, from the first goal to the final achievement, the process took 8 years.
Unfortunately, the second goal has not yet been reached - on this journey of Chinese pet companies to enter the world, Chinese brands still need to grow, are still working hard on the road, and there is a long way to go.
Chongyejia: The development of China's pet economy has benefited from the rise and development of the global pet trade. What are the key factors for Chinese pet companies to grow up in global trade?
Cheng Yang: When I took Chinese enterprises to overseas exhibitions for the first time, overseas enterprises had a high interest in Chinese pet enterprises. Subsequently, with the increasing frequency of Chinese enterprises participating in overseas exhibitions, the industry popularity also gradually improved. Foreign customers have some friendly labels for Chinese pet enterprises, such as product quality, OEM quotation, timely delivery and so on. It has a clear competitive advantage in the competition for overseas OEM orders, and then Chinese pet companies have also shown the spirit of innovation, and are constantly exploring ODM OEM cooperation, which continues to bring the supply capacity of products to meet the market demand to overseas customers.
Chongyejia: In the golden age of China's pet foreign trade economy, what troubles have Chinese pet enterprises experienced? What was your first reaction when you were there? What subsequent actions have been taken to help Chinese pet companies survive the difficulties?
Cheng Yang: In the process of foreign trade development, Chinese pet enterprises have mainly experienced two kinds of troubles:
One is the intellectual property disputes of pet products in the European market mainly in Germany. The earliest such problems occurred after 2006, mainly because domestic enterprises have weak awareness of intellectual property rights, so they are often hired by overseas exhibitors during the exhibition period to collect product information, on-site photos and files, and finally complain to the organizer that "products infringing intellectual property rights shall not be exhibited during the exhibition period." One time in Nuremberg, Germany, overseas companies even brought police to the stand of Chinese exhibitors to conduct forensic investigations, and at that time three companies received a summons from the International Court of Justice for intellectual property infringement.
In the later stage, there were some copying and even vicious squatting behaviors of Chinese pet enterprise products abroad, so that domestic enterprises went abroad to participate in the exhibition, and ate a lot of dumb losses. For example, in 2010, there was a patent infringement by overseas companies on domestic pet companies. Therefore, from the real lesson, we should understand that not all foreign people or enterprises are abiding by the spirit of contract.
The reason why Chinese pet companies were frequently criticized during that period is that the rapid development of Chinese enterprises, whether from the quality or from the price, has begun to threaten the interests of overseas pet companies.
In order to prevent problems before they happen, we specially hired a German to deal with intellectual property issues in the follow-up conference in Germany, and even promoted some Chinese enterprises and overseas enterprises from competition to cooperation.
One is the melamine incident in the pet food safety hazard in the North American market, mainly in the United States. In 2008, a safety hazard incident of "pet food containing melamine" occurred in North America, which ultimately affected the collective trust crisis of Chinese pet food export enterprises. This incident led to the international pet market wearing "Chinese pet snack products toxic" colored glasses, Chinese pet snack products were strongly boycotted by the international market at that time, the impact of the overseas export business is a cliff decline.
When I learned this news, some helpless feeling: pick up a sesame, lost the watermelon. This incident poured a pot of cold water on the thriving Chinese pet foreign trade business, and had to wake up:
Every export enterprise, behind the representative of China, Chinese enterprises must not do things to deceive customers, must do products that live up to their conscience; Similarly, enterprises must understand the local laws and regulations of the export country and comply with the local requirements for the quality and labeling of pet products.
In order to help Chinese pet export enterprises overcome the "foreign trade difficulties", in 2011, I invited the president of the American Pet Food Manufacturers Association to visit China at the Orlando Exhibition in the United States, and suggested that the two sides organize dialogue between Chinese and American pet food enterprises twice a year to mitigate the negative evaluation of Chinese pet enterprises brought about by the melamine incident. But it was not adopted in the end, and to this day it still remains in a state of drag.
After the "United States" road failed to go through, the "Germany" road I want to work hard.
Finally, after more than two years of sincere invitation, Hans, then CEO of Nuremberg Exhibition in Germany, came to China in 2012, and successively visited Biregi in Shanghai, Petit and Yuanfei in Pingyang, Wenzhou, and Zhongpet in Yantai. At the same time, in order to prove the safety and quality of the products of the Chinese pet factory, Hans took the sampled products to the German authority for testing, and the final test results were safe and reliable. This move has won some applause and goodwill for the product safety of Chinese pet companies, but Chinese pet companies as a whole are still not optimistic about the expansion of export business.
Chongyejia: In the first year after the pandemic reset the market, which countries and regions did you visit in 2023, and did the pet market in these countries and regions get better or worse? Why?
Cheng Yang: Before and after the epidemic, overseas enterprises' views and attitudes toward the Chinese market have changed greatly.
In May 2023, at the Italian Pet Exhibition, the products on display are still the mainstream of Chinese-made products, but some new national supply chain enterprises have also begun to scale up, such as the Indian National exhibition group. Among them, there are also several Indian exhibitors booth design, product quality and price levels have a certain competitiveness, which is a bit surprising to me, Chinese companies should pay special attention to the rise of the Indian pet industry.
In November of the same year, I also went to Vietnam to inspect the market. When I returned to Vietnam, I found that there were many business people from European and American countries in the airport, while my colleagues went to the Indonesian pet exhibition and had the same feeling in the Indonesian airport. From these phenomena, it reflects a new market trend: Western supply chain orders are shifting to Southeast Asia.
Obviously, this is not a good sign for China's domestic economic development. In fact, if we remain stuck in a rut and complacent about the advantages we have built up in the past, it is likely that we will slowly lose out in the future competitive landscape on the global stage.
This is a serious problem for today's Chinese pet industry practitioners, and it is also a burden and responsibility that our pet industry people should shoulder.
Based on such concerns and expectations, there is an industry service platform jointly built by the Chinese Pet industry people composed of industry associations, industry enterprises and industry media - Pet Sourcing China, a truly stand in the perspective of the industry, and strive to be a professional, efficient and reliable B2B international supply chain platform.
Chongyejia: In such new changes, the living space of Chinese pet enterprises in the future development of global trade, is there more opportunities, or more challenges?
Cheng Yang: This change, from the real sense of the body, is more to make domestic pet companies feel nervous, can be said to be more challenging. Although the overall environment is not optimistic, we must keep the light in our hearts.
From the feedback of some enterprises, some overseas customers' attitude toward China's local foundry cooperation, from reducing orders to canceling orders, has forced Chinese enterprises to invest in Southeast Asia to build factories. But the more realistic situation is that even if Chinese enterprises go to Southeast Asia to invest and build factories, but because the identity behind the Chinese enterprises, some overseas customers may still not choose to cooperate under force majeure.
Chongyejia:PSC global pet supply chain platform, as a Chinese pet companies want to do a good job in the sea market in the road to choose, how will lead pet companies to go to sea? For the brand to go to sea, PSC can help the brand do what?
Cheng Yang: In 2023, PSC has organized and led some heads of domestic enterprises to visit Southeast Asia to understand how the local economic development zone layout and expansion.
At the same time, in addition to the development of Europe and the United States, PSC also focuses on buyers in emerging countries, regions and emerging channels. Among them, in terms of emerging countries and regions, mainly Southeast Asia, South America, the Middle East and Russia are the four regions that PSC will focus on in 2024, and the African market will be expanded in the future. In terms of emerging channel buyers, it focuses on cross-border e-commerce, overseas e-commerce and channel distribution agents in sinking markets.
In addition, the PSC platform will also organize events and invite experts to countries and regions where the brand is likely to go overseas, allowing brand exhibitors to link to import traders and local retailers in target export countries and regions.
At the first pet fair held in Guangzhou Poly World Trade Exhibition Hall on November 5-7 this year, traders in the emerging pet market are our focus to invite the object, which is crucial for Chinese pet brands to take the first step in the sea. To this end, we will help pet brands who want to go to sea to interpret the human customs and market characteristics of potential countries and regions; At the same time, the e-commerce platform channel is an efficient channel for the brand to go to sea, and we will also strive to invite foreign and local potential e-commerce buyers to the scene to exchange and visit the exhibition.
Finally, it is to lead these brands to go abroad, organize study delegations and exhibitors, and penetrate the local market; Bilateral negotiations will also be organized, and cooperation between local traders and pet associations will be deeply linked.
Chongyejia: The first pet fair will be officially unveiled in Guangzhou Poly World Trade Center on November 5-7. What are the highlights that deserve the attention of domestic pet companies?
Cheng Yang: The first Pet Fair will be held in Guangzhou Poly World Trade Exhibition Hall from November 5-7, 2024, with an exhibition area of more than 50,000 square meters, more than 500 exhibitors and more than 1,000 new products. It is expected that 2,000 + international professional buyers from 30+ countries will participate in the scene.
As the industry's first appearance of the pet fair, it will be built into an international trade show that "better understands the needs of international buyers" :
First, the precise implementation of a series of global buyer plans
In terms of global buyers, it not only includes the global Top50 buyer plan, but also the high-growth buyer plan of Growth20, and the Core8 core region buyer plan.
Second, do the "whole industry chain supply chain exhibition"
In terms of exhibition area planning, in addition to meeting the needs of the traditional supply chain, the PSC PET Fair will add the following emerging exhibition areas to enrich the whole industrial chain, including raw materials & Additives exhibition area, start-up area, green packaging materials exhibition area and fashion design area;
Third, pay attention to the exhibition experience of the special booth planning
The site also plans to have a small area booth can also get more display surface [Peninsula plan], light investment mini booth, and the exhibition option of bag occupancy.
At the same time, we will also set the event agenda from the global perspective of the new trends in the development of the pet industry, including the international pet supply chain conference, cross-border e-commerce theme forum, the establishment of international expert think tanks, as well as a number of closed-door buyer meet and talk sessions on site.