Brands from multinational Mars Petcare such as Pedigree, Whiskas, Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba, and from Nestle, Pro Plan and Purina, are in short supply.
Spaces have appeared on supermarket shelves, where about 80% of dog and cat foods are purchased.
The remainder is sold in pet stores, vet clinics and rural supplies stores.
According to the NZ Petfood Manufacturers Association, the market is worth more than $500 million annually, 60% for cats and 40% for dogs.
Association manager Richard Brake says the placement of shipping containers was the root cause of the import disruption to kibble-style products made in North America and Asia.
These products had cereal bases that were not readily available or commonly made in New Zealand.
Local petfood processors have reported strong demand for their mechanically deboned meats (MDM), packed and frozen before export or further processing.
Meateor Foods, jointly owned by Alliance Group and Scales Corporation, has two plants at Whakatu in Hawke’s Bay and in Dunedin.
Chief executive John Sainsbury says a majority of the company’s production is exported to the United States and with help from Scales Logistics, the positioning of containers has been manageable so far.
But the disruption to ship timetables had caused backlogs in cold storage, which also required careful management.
Overseas reports of petfood shortages say wet foods are worse affected, being those in pouches or cans, because of disruptions to processing traced back to covid-19 lockdowns and workplace changes.
Sainsbury says the two biggest petfood companies in the world, Mars and Nestle, had head offices and major processing facilities in the US.
The exported MDM was further processed overseas and the consumer-ready products imported for the local market.
“Lamb and rice formulas are a common recipe many pet owners will be familiar with and, in many cases, these are made using Meateor Foods lamb,” Sainsbury said.
The company also packs other proteins such as venison, veaL, beef and offals.
Mars Petcare closed its Whanganui processing site in December, with the loss of 140 jobs and the relocation of that output of Whiskas brand products to Thailand.
