Aussies feel the pinch as pet food prices remain astronomically high

Australians spent an estimated $33.2 billion on their pets last year, with $17.1 billion (51 per cent) representing the cost of food.

Prices have risen drastically since 2020 and remain nowhere near pre-pandemic levels.

The average household spent $2024 on dog food in 2022, up from $586 in 2019, according to an Animal Medicines Australia report.

Cat costs went up from $491 pre-pandemic to $1595 by the end of 2022.

Even fish and birds weren't safe from the price gouging, with costs rising $385 pre-pandemic to $1172.

Pet Industry Association of Australia CEO Anthony Ramsey said the price hike was magnified for imported foods.

"In the basic and premium space, most of the brands have some form of onshore manufacture. Imports are more prevalent in the 'super premium' space," he said.

Mr Ramsey said brands such as Vet-Line, Hill's Science Diet, Eukanuba, IAMS and Royal Canin all fell into this category.

"They're the ones that are primarily 100 per cent imported and are suffering the greatest from increases to costs throughout their supply chain," he said.

"The payback is usually that animals eat less to get the same amount of nutrition. Even though they are more expensive food gram for gram, when the animal's consuming less of the product it will usually work out more economical than the cheaper end of the market."

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Specialised products such as a 20kg bag of Hill's Science active dog food currently retails for $233 at Petbarn.

But local offerings are still seeing elevated prices compared to pre-pandemic levels. The Australian-made Black Hawk is selling 15kg bags of grain-free adult dog food for $57 through the same retailer.

Mr Ramsey said despite rising costs, owners shouldn't go for the lower end of the market.

"We're seeing reports from our retail members of what we call 'downgrading'. Obviously owners can't stop feeding their pets, but they may choose to buy a cheaper alternative," he said.

"We would always recommend 'premium' as where you should be starting, the most basic cheapest foods really don't really offer the same nutrition or reliability of the quality of ingredients. They're made to a price rather than a quality."

Mr Ramsey said while the blockages and delays of the pandemic had eased, the price of shipping continued to increase.

"Freight cost hasn't returned to pre-COVID levels even though availability and shipping container space has returned to a more normal level," he said.

"We're still dealing with freight prices at least double if not triple what we were used to pre-pandemic."

Mr Ramsey said he was "skeptical" that the market would return to normal pricing anytime soon.

"Once big business get the industry used to paying a particular price, they rarely lower it again," he said.