Formed Capital and Business Alliance with JIA PETS, Deploying Pet Care Business in China

Unicharm Corporation (CEO and President, Mr. Takahisa Takahara) announced that its 100% subsidiary in China, Unicharm (China) Investment Co., Ltd. has agreed forming capital and business alliance with Jiangsu Jijia Pet Products Co., Ltd. (Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China/ President, Ms. Cui Jia).

Unicharm raises “NOLA & DOLA” (Necessity of Life with Activities & Dreams of Life with Activities) as our corporate philosophy. We aim to develop our business by embodying “NOLA” to “eliminate various negatives of consumers,” and “DOLA” to “fulfill the dreams of consumers.”

Partner animal care business has started in 1986, and through our business philosophy of “Supporting the lives of owners and their partner animals and contributing to healthy and hygienic daily life,” we serve with the full lineup special care products for pets including food, toilet sheets, system toilets, and disposable diapers.

By combining the sales strength and regional network of JIA PETS with the product development and production capabilities that we have cultivated over many years, we will dramatically accelerate the development of partner animal care business in China.

The number of dogs and cats kept in China is approximately seven times^*1 that of Japan , and the pet care market, including specialized pet food, is the second largest in the world after North America, with a market size of approximately US$13 billion^*2. The market is expected to continue to grow at a rate of approximately 15% in the near future.

The Chinese partner animal care market boasts such a large market size and high growth rate, but the core of pet owners is the generation born after 1990, and the speedy development of products that capture the tastes of this younger generation is essential for business growth.

  JIA PETS is a leading pet-care product supplier, founded in 2013 in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China. The company coheres from manufacturing to sales in-house and operates throughout China. Amongst the high quality brands they handle are “Crazy Puppy” for dog food, and “MEW MEW” and “LEGEND SANDY” for cat food.

The company also sells other companies' products at its e-commerce flagship store, giving it a unique advantage in product development and the planning and execution of sales strategies by utilizing its know-how in operating e-commerce stores and customer data acquired through sales.

Through the capital and business alliance with JIA PETS, we aim to expand our share in the Chinese market by strengthening our product development, production, and sales systems to meet the needs of Chinese consumers.

The consolidated sales in FY 2021 were 104.5 B-yen (+9.2%). In Japan and China, the number of keeping partner animal is increasing. The reason behind lies to fact that the time spent at home increased due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection. Furthermore, the amount of time spent with pet dogs and cats is also on the rise. In light of these changes, we have strengthened sales of dog food, including products tailored to the characteristics and age of each breed of dog and a new concept of "food that helps build a body that maintains healthy muscles.” In cat food, we have expanded our product lineup to meet the growing health conscious consumers, and we have strengthened and nurtured dog sheets and system toilets for cats, resulting in solid performance.

In Asia, the partner animal care market is growing steadily, especially in urban areas in China, where it is expanding rapidly.

Jiangsu Jijia Pet Products Co., Ltd. (JIA PETS)  http://www.jijiapets.com/

Unicharm Corporation                                      https://www.unicharm.co.jp/en/home.html

Unicharm believes that this activity will contribute to the following goal of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015.

9．Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

We will continue to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs by solving environmental and social issues through our business activities, including the provision of products and services.