From the perspective of pet food imports, Japan imported 263,494 metric tons of pet food in 2019, accounting for 44.4% of Japan's total domestic pet food consumption. According to data from Japan's Yano Economic Research Institute, the market size of the Japanese pet industry reached US$ 15 billion in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 1.67%. Among them, the pet food market was US$ 4.1 billion, an increase of 0.71% year-on-year, accounting for about 27.07% of the entire pet industry in Japan. In 2019, driven by value-added products, premium and ultra-premium foods, medical and therapeutic functional formulas, and an increasing number of pet foods and supplements, the country's pet food sales exceeded US$ 3 billion. This is an increase of 3.5% over 2018 and is the fourth consecutive year of growth in pet food sales. Between 2018 and 2019, pet food sales fell by less than 1% and remained at a stable level of approximately 594,000 metric tons, indicating that the price of pet food products has risen across the board.

The report also revealed that the most popular pet food distribution channel in Japan is professional pet product wholesalers, and the most popular pet food retail channels include home furnishing centers, discount stores, supermarkets, pharmacies and pet stores. E-commerce is also developing steadily in this field. The proportion of online channels increased slightly, from 11.5% in 2015 to 13.1% in 2019.