The Rise of New Zealand-Produced Pet Food
New Zealand’s reputation for clean, high-quality food is creating exciting opportunities in the global pet-food market. Discover how grass-fed meat, premium seafood, traceability and country-of-origin are helping New Zealand pet food build a distinctive global position
thepetenvoy
8/12/20263 min read
From “Clean & Green” Reputation to a Global Pet-Food Proposition
New Zealand has something that many pet-food-producing countries would love to manufacture.
A story | Pasture | Grass-fed animals | Lamb | Beef | Fish | Clean landscapes | A strong agricultural heritage | And a global reputation for producing premium food.
For years, New Zealand's food identity has been strongly associated with products such as dairy, meat and seafood.
Now, that story is increasingly extending into pet food.
And the opportunity is much bigger than simply putting a small “Made in New Zealand” label on a bag.
The numbers show the opportunity—and the challenge. New Zealand's pet-food exports to China grew dramatically from almost nothing in 2016 to NZ$134.3 million in the year ending June 2023.
They subsequently fell to NZ$64.2 million in the year ending June 2025, affected by weaker post-COVID consumption, increased competition, supply disruption and trade barriers.
But the important point is not simply that exports declined. It is how the industry is responding.
New Zealand producers are increasingly moving toward specialised health and nutritional products, while others are developing more accessible price points or working through OEM partnerships.
In other words:
New Zealand pet food is evolving from a country-of-origin story into a product strategy.
Why New Zealand works for pet food: Consider the ingredients --- Grass-fed beef | Pasture-raised lamb | King salmon | Green-lipped mussels --- These are not just ingredients.
They are stories that consumers already understand.
A European or Asian consumer may not know the technical details of New Zealand's pet-food manufacturing process.
But they can understand:
“Grass-fed lamb from New Zealand.”
They can visualise it.
They can connect it to a place.
And they can associate it with the country's broader food reputation.
That is powerful branding.
But “Made in New Zealand” is not enough
This is perhaps the most important lesson.
New Zealand's reputation creates the first reason to look.
It does not automatically create the reason to buy.
The market is becoming too competitive for country of origin alone.
New Zealand exporters are facing increasingly sophisticated domestic competitors in China and international competitors from other manufacturing hubs. New Zealand's own government analysis notes that Chinese manufacturers are moving into higher-value categories and increasingly competing on high-meat and seafood products.
So the next generation of New Zealand pet food needs three layers:
Origin → Ingredient → Benefit
For example:
New Zealand → Grass-fed Lamb → Highly digestible single-animal protein
Or:
New Zealand → King Salmon → Omega-rich nutrition for skin & coat
Now the country story becomes commercially meaningful. Traceability becomes part of the brand. There is another opportunity here.
New Zealand's official export framework requires pet food containing animal ingredients to comply with the Animal Products Act, while export requirements vary according to ingredients and destination market.
For brands, compliance is only the starting point.
The bigger opportunity is turning traceability into consumer confidence.
Where was the animal raised?
Where was the ingredient processed?
Where was the food manufactured?
Why was that ingredient selected?
The more consumers care about food provenance, the more these questions become part of the product itself.
From “New Zealand made” to “New Zealand born”
The strongest New Zealand pet-food brands may eventually move beyond:
Made in New Zealand.
toward:
Born from New Zealand's food culture.
That means using the country's agricultural strengths as the foundation for products that are:
traceable + nutritious + functional + premium + emotionally understandable.
And this is where New Zealand has a genuine opportunity.
Not to become the cheapest pet-food producer.
Not to compete with every mass-market kibble.
But to own a distinctive position:
Premium pet nutrition, powered by the ingredients and food culture of New Zealand.
The country's government expects total New Zealand pet-food export revenues to grow by about 10% in 2025/26, despite the recent challenges.
The next chapter, therefore, may not be about selling more “Made in New Zealand” pet food.
It may be about making consumers around the world understand why New Zealand is worth paying for.
The bigger picture
These three trends look different on the surface.
Asia: Freeze-dried and highly visible nutrition.
Europe: Health, functionality and transparency.
New Zealand: Provenance, ingredients and premium production.
But underneath, they are moving in the same direction.
Pet owners are becoming better consumers.
They want to know what their pets eat, why they eat it, and whether it genuinely makes a difference.
The future of pet food may therefore belong less to the brand that shouts “PREMIUM!” the loudest—and more to the brand that can tell the clearest, most believable story from ingredient → process → benefit → pet.
That is where the next generation of pet-food brands will compete.