China spends $29bn on pampering pets as birthrate slows
INTERNATIONAL – On a sunny mid-October afternoon, Leia spent her third birthday munching a gourmet three-course meal of chicken, beef with salmon and a yogurt-based cake atop a rooftop restaurant in Beijing.
Leia is a German miniature pinscher and one of millions of pets in China whose every whim are indulged by their owners.
Spending on pets in China is accelerating despite a broader trend of slowing retail sales growth in the world’s second-largest economy. Perhaps exacerbated by a growing trend of singlehood and childlessness, urban pet owners are on track to spend 202 billion yuan ($28.6 billion) on their pets this year, 19% more than 2018, according to a study by Goumin.com, a Chinese social network for pet-owners.
Source: iol.co.za
