A couple of my recent assignments have brought me into the big wide world of animal health, meaning emerging markets in Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. There you will find a different landscape for our industry, with different needs and drivers than what we sometimes overly focus on- that being the mature USA and European markets. (Note: Recently I saw that there is state bill being presented in Oregon that essentially outlaws hunting, fishing, and animal farming. Imagine presenting that to someone on the streets of Calcutta?)
In emerging markets, you see a significant growth in pet care and spending. Innovation is still highly valued and generally does well when brought to these markets. But affordability is a big issue and finding ways to make products more available to larger populations will be one of the big opportunities for our industry.
As for food animals, it is a big driver of growth- in these markets you have billions of mouths to feed that continue to be growing at a rate exceeding the mature market populations. Food availability, affordability, and security will forever be the dominate theme in this area. While we go into a Whole Foods, or Marks and Spencer and see ‘organic’, ‘free range’, ‘no hormones’ or ‘no antibiotics’ highlighted on the label- go into a store in Brazil or Indonesia and it’s a different choice operating: what’s available and what can I afford it?
The duality of these differing markets (mature vs. emerging) creates difficult choices for animal health companies on how to direct their strategic vision and choices. In my view, the ones that do it right will be the winners and the most sustainable.
Paul Casady
English 
Portuguese 
Japanese 
Chinese