It’s official: 2022 hits biggest-ever price hike in US pet supplies

Inflation in the category reached 12% in 12 months, even higher than the one registered in the 2008 financial crisis.

New data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) concluded that prices of pet supplies in the US increased an accumulated 12% from January to December 2022.

December showed the lowest price increase in pet supplies (0.1%). March, a month after the Ukrainian invasion, registered the highest price increase in a single month (1.6%) for pet products in the US.

The historical data, accessed by GlobalPETS and that goes back to 1978, reveals that this inflationary pressure in the category has never been registered.

The yearly inflation in pet products is usually single digit, except for 1979 (11.4%), 1980 (11.6%), and 2018 (11.6%). Inflation has often ended negatively, the last time in 2020.

The impact of headwinds on pet food

Pet nutrition is one of the categories registering a more significant impact on global headwinds. According to official figures, pet food prices in the US increased by 14.2% in 2022.

Like pet supplies, December indicated a slowing down (0.4%). March (2.3%) and August (1.7%) registered the biggest hikes in the past year.

Inflation in the pet food segment in 2022 is recorded as one of the highest since the BLS began gathering data in 2022. Only in 2018 did pet food prices increase more than last year, with an accumulated 14.5% from January to December.

David Palacios Rubio

Head of Editorial, GlobalPETS