Ukraine
Due to political tensions, the military conflict in the eastern part of the country and the annexation of Crimea, Ukraine has had a difficult year.
Values dropped
Even though the pet market grew in value, it did experience a significant decrease in quantitative terms, which was brought on by the devaluation of the national currency Hryvnia, whose value decreased over two times.
Additionally, the Ukrainian pet market suffered a great loss due to the separation of Crimea and other territory that has been occupied on the Donbas, as these regions traditionally represented substantial expenditure on pet products.
Hopeful prospects
Despite the difficult situation, the Ukrainian people have not lost faith and continue to make the best of their circumstances. Some of the pet industry entrepreneurs from the occupied territories have moved to the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government to restart their businesses there (including opening new pet shops).
National and domestic manufacturers see new opportunities not only in traditional divisions, such as accessories, fashion, cat litters and food for rodents and birds, but also in food for dogs and cats.
Most established companies have significantly expanded their activities. For example, Suzirya Pet (Kharkiv) continues to open new stores in shopping malls, Triplex (Dnipropetrovsk) has found new trading partners for its network Zoology, and UniZoo company (Kharkiv) has been actively opening their shops not only in Kharkiv but also in the capital of Kyiv. Other businesses that have become much more active include the Barbus company (Odesa), Fauna (Dnipropetrovsk), Gretta (Lviv), and PetImpEx (Odesa).
New markets
As opportunities in the domestic market have diminished, a lot of Ukrainian pet product producers as well as producers of veterinarian medicine and equipment have started to look for new markets in European and Middle Eastern countries, as well as in the US and Canada. Time will tell what interesting developments this trend may bring for the global pet industry.
Ukrainian people have not lost their faith and hope, and will continue to work towards getting their pet market back on its feet.