From AFP, via News.com.au:
Once banned as a bourgeois luxury, pet ownership is becoming big business in China with one in every nine Chinese now owning a dog, the Chinese state press reported today.
China’s growing dog population has reached 150 million, with experts predicting that the market for dog food and accessories could reach 6.0 billion yuan (725 million dollars) by 2008, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
They also predicted that the overall “pet economy” in China could reach 15 billion yuan annually.
An average Chinese city has about 100,000 dogs and gains about 10,000 per year, while large cities have up to twice as many, the report, citing statistics from the National Kennel Club of the China Animal Agriculture Association, said.
Advertisement:Beijing alone had more than 500,000 pet dogs in 2004.
