China's pet insurance market sees bright future

China's pet insurance market has a bright future amid growing rates of pet ownership across the country.

Last year, over 73 million households in Chinese cities were also home to a pet. The value of the Chinese pet market reached 170.8 billion yuan ($25.3 billion), with medical care for cats and dogs accounting for 14 percent and 15 percent, according to an industrial report.

The report also showed that the average annual cost of medical care stood at 1,557 yuan for dog owners and 1,446 yuan for cat owners. However, those who bought medical insurance for their pets saved most of the expense, spending only around 300 to 500 yuan on pet insurance.

"I bought a 418-yuan insurance package for my cat that could reimburse me as much as 15,000 yuan," said a cat owner in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan province.

Though China's pet insurance market is still in its early stages, many industry insiders believe that it is only a matter of time before the market hits 10 billion yuan.

"We had less than 5,000 pet insurance clients between 2015 and February 2018, but now our customer base has risen to 160,000 after a thorough reform and two rounds of financing," said Xu Hua, CEO of a pet company.

"Our performance doubled since we launched online channels last November. We estimate that daily orders for our pet insurance products will exceed 300, with 10,000 monthly orders by the end of this year," said Chen Ye, a pet brand manager.

Though the prospect of China's pet insurance market looks pretty rosy, a well-developed business model is still needed for both market players and customers with more companies running under the lowered threshold.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)