EUROPE PET FOOD WATCH · Nº 13
Spain just posted a €2.18 billion pet food year — and almost every euro of the growth came from one animal. Dog food barely moved. Cats did the work.
Key Takeaways
- ▸ Spain's pet food sales reached €2.178 billion in 2025, up 6.1% year on year (ANFAAC).
- ▸ Volume hit 603,527 tonnes, up 5.3% — cats added 14.4%, dogs just 0.2%.
- ▸ Cat food revenue rose 12.2% to €1.039bn; dog food rose 1.1% to €1.139bn.
- ▸ Cat wet food volume jumped 32.7%; dog dry food, the old core, fell 3.3%.
- ▸ ANFAAC members represent about 90% of Spanish pet food sales.
Spain rarely leads the European pet food headlines. Germany is bigger, France exports more, Poland builds faster. But the 2025 numbers published by ANFAAC, the Spanish pet food manufacturers' association, describe something the whole continent is doing — only more sharply, and in one market you can hold in your hand.
▮ The headline: €2.178 billion, 603,527 tonnes
Sales rose 6.1% to €2.178 billion (about US$2.51 billion) on 603,527 tonnes of product, a 5.3% volume gain, according to figures reported in April 2026. Both lines grew — but not evenly.
▮ Where the growth actually came from
Split the market by species and the story stops being "Spanish pet food grew" and starts being "Spanish cat food grew". Dog food is still the bigger book by value, but it is close to flat. Cat food is compounding at double digits on both lines at once — volume and price.
| Segment | 2025 value | Value y/y | 2025 volume | Volume y/y |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dog food | €1.139bn | +1.1% | 366,834 t | +0.2% |
| Cat food | €1.039bn | +12.2% | 236,693 t | +14.4% |
| Total | €2.178bn | +6.1% | 603,527 t | +5.3% |
At those rates cat food passes dog food in Spain before the end of the decade — and probably a lot sooner. It is the same crossover FEDIAF has been tracking continent-wide, arriving early in a market where flats, smaller households and long working days make cats the practical pet.
Dog food added €12 million in 2025. Cat food added €113 million.
▮ Wet food is the real engine
Go one level deeper and the growth narrows again, to a format. Cat wet food volume rose 32.7% and dog wet food 20.8%, while dog dry food — the historic core of the industry — fell 3.3%. Cat dry food managed +4.2%; dog treats slipped 5.4%.
That distinction matters far more upstream than it does on the shelf. A tonne of kibble is mostly cereal and rendered meal. A tonne of wet food in pouches or trays is mostly water and fresh muscle, liver, lung and heart. Swapping volume from dry to wet does not just move a category — it changes what a plant has to buy, in what condition, at what temperature, and under which certificate.
Did you know?
Spain is one of Europe's densest pet markets: more than 20 million pets and roughly half of households living with one, a share that now exceeds the share of households with children under 15.
▮ What a Brazilian supplier reads into it
Three things. First, demand for CAT-3 offal is growing faster than the market average, because wet formats are growing faster than dry. Second, cat recipes are the tight spot — palatability in cat food leans on liver, heart and hydrolysed proteins, exactly the fractions with the thinnest supply. Third, growth of this shape is bought, not forecast: Spanish co-packers filling 32% more cat wet food need contracted raw material, not spot.
The 4DW Angle
4D World supplies CAT-3 raw materials to European pet food manufacturers from its own multi-protein plant, SIF 4075 / Nutre Meat — poultry and bovine offal, liver, lung and heart fractions, frozen and certified for the EU. If your 2027 planning has a cat-wet line in it, the raw-material conversation is worth having now, not in December. Talk to our desk.
▮ Frequently asked questions
How big is Spain's pet food market?
Spain's pet food market was worth €2.178 billion in 2025, up 6.1% year on year, on 603,527 tonnes of product — a 5.3% volume rise. The figures come from ANFAAC, the Spanish pet food association, whose members account for roughly 90% of national sales, and were reported in April 2026.
Do Spaniards spend more on dogs or cats?
Dogs still take the larger share — €1.139 billion against €1.039 billion for cats in 2025 — but the gap is closing fast. Cat food revenue grew 12.2% that year while dog food added only 1.1%, and cat volume rose 14.4% versus 0.2% for dogs. On current trends cats overtake dogs within two years.
Why is wet pet food growing so fast in Spain?
Wet food is where premiumisation shows up first. In 2025 Spanish cat wet food volume jumped 32.7% and dog wet food 20.8%, while dog dry food fell 3.3%. Wet recipes carry far more fresh meat and offal per tonne than kibble, so the shift pulls disproportionately on CAT-3 raw material supply.
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