saturn petcare expands cooperation in China: Internationalization progresses

Bremen, June 2023. saturn petcare, one of the market leaders in pet food in the private label segment, is driving forward its internationalization strategy with a research and development initiative in China.

With a workforce of 1,000 employees and annual sales of over two billion consumer units, the Petcare division of heristo aktiengesellschaft (Bad Rothenfelde) has been one of the most successful suppliers in the pet food sector for many years. For example, saturn petcare, one of heristo's divisional companies, is the market leader in Europe for wet pet food. With plants in Bremen and Hattem in the Netherlands, saturn petcare has long been established internationally. In 2021, the company finally opened a plant in the USA to further expand this strategically important market for the pet food division.

However, this is by no means the end of the company's internationalization strategy. saturn petcare has been cooperating with its Chinese production partner PetIdeal through its premium brand animonda since 2021. The first animonda products were successfully launched on the Chinese market in 2022. The latest development in this partnership is a joint Sino-German research and development initiative. This aims to ensure effective and professional product development and quality assurance in China and to continuously strengthen competitiveness in the dynamic Chinese and Asian markets. During a visit to Germany, saturn petcare and PetIdeal signed an agreement to this effect.

"The Chinese pet food market is of great strategic importance to us," emphasizes Christian Schröder, CEO of the petcare division and member of the heristo Management Board. "By utilizing the high productivity and developed production chain in China, we will further expand our position in Asia in the coming years."

An Zhongping, CEO of PetIdeal, adds: "China is a market with considerable potential in the pet food sector. And saturn petcare, with its many years of experience and expertise in all stages of the production process, is the best possible partner for PetIdeal."