Pigeons, cats, dogs or rabbits: pets kept at home are friends to young and old alike, and plenty of people keep them close and spare nothing in their care. To keep them healthy, many feed them processed pet food. Made from cereals, fish, chicken and beef, this food comes from various European countries.

People in the trade say the pet food market was not very lively before Covid; this kind of food became popular during the pandemic. Brands such as Pedigree, Lara, Whiskas, Reflex, Miko, Mito and Pro Diet have spread beyond superstores and the upmarket Katabon area to online shops and neighbourhood stores. Pet food imports are worth about Tk 100 crore a year.

Traders have struggled to import pet food because of the dollar crisis caused by the war in Europe. The report says the difficulty over opening letters of credit (LCs) with banks for pet food imports has run for the past three months. The market has heated up: in a short time the price of every item has risen by up to 30 per cent, and stocks are slowly running out.

People in the trade say the banks are only offering reassurances, and if LCs cannot be opened there will be chaos over pet food next year.

Pet food, cages, toys and all other pet supplies are sold at the Dhaka University Market in Katabon in the capital. Most traders there were unwilling to talk about pet food.

Buyers said prices of food and other goods are being set at will because there is no control.

University student Farida Akter Mou went round several Katabon shops looking for Lara brand cat food for her three-month-old kitten but could not find her preferred brand. She said cheap, low-quality pet food is on the market and is also expensive, while prices asked for European and Turkish brands are sky-high, rising by Tk 20-30 from week to week. Some foods have vanished from the market, and she had seen a 250-gram chicken cat food rise by as much as Tk 60 in a week.

Barun Ghosh, owner of The Birds Bitan in Katabon, told Jagonews that prices of such goods have naturally risen because the dollar has become dearer. "Why would we raise prices ourselves? A customer who used to buy Tk 4,000 worth of food now buys Tk 2,000 worth. Sales have fallen, and we are selling as best we can. These are not goods to hoard." He said no new goods are coming in, the problem has lasted several months, and importers cannot supply. He also said there are enough goods and there will be no problem now.

Khalid Rahman, who runs the Facebook page Pet Haven Shop BD, said all the food comes from abroad. Because LCs are closed, goods have stopped coming and stocks are slowly falling; only those who had opened LCs earlier are receiving goods. New LCs have not been opened for three months, and what does arrive costs more because of the higher dollar rate.

Khalid, who started his business during Covid, said many brands have disappeared and most food comes from Europe. Lara, a Belgian cat food in chicken, fish and meat flavours, cost Tk 650 for a 2 kg pack a few months ago and now costs Tk 900. Many people are no longer feeding expensive food to their pets and are buying less.

Architect Iqbal Majed said such food and care for pets is no longer a luxury but a necessity, because no one wants a beloved animal to fall ill from home or outside food. Costs have risen a lot for global economic reasons. The wealthy may not be affected, he said, but many middle-class people who want to feed their cats well are struggling.

Sarwar Alam, owner of Decent Pet Shop, said: "Things are such that we cannot even pay the shop rent. There is no business. I do not know how long we can go on. Every day we pray that the country's situation improves. The food we have will last two or three months. All traders are in the same position." He said business was good during Covid and prices had not risen so much then, but now they have gone up by Tk 100-150 a kilo. When prices will settle is for importers to say, and selling at higher prices is a problem for shopkeepers too.

Importers, however, said there is no shortage of pet food at the moment and that they will soon sit down with traders to decide what to do.

Pet food importer Jisan said: "We importers will meet soon. Everyone at the Pet Food Importers Association will sit together to find a solution. With the LCs opened earlier, there will be no problem for 7-8 months. The bank has reassured us that we will get LCs. I do not think there will be any big problem. We are helping everyone so that traders and pet owners get the best service."

Pallab Kumar, marketing officer at importer Three S Impex, told Jagonews: "We are trying for LCs but cannot open them. I do not know what will happen. If there are no imports there will certainly be a food shortage. The dollar price and interest rates are now very high, and food prices have gone up by 20-30 per cent."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.