China's urban pet (dog and cat) consumer market is expected to surpass the threshold of 200 billion yuan in 2019, with the overall consumption scale reaching 202.4 billion yuan, an increase of 18.5 percent over 2018, according to a white paper released by goumin.com and Pet Fair Asia.

A man walks a Shiba Inu dog in Tianjin, June 4, 2019. (Photo: IC)

The report is based on a survey on both pet owners and people without pets living in first, second, third and fourth-tier cities and towns in China. A total of more than 40,000 questionnaires were collected in the survey.

The white paper said the consumer market for pet dogs in China will grow 17.8 percent from last year to 124.4 billion yuan this year, while the pet cat's consumer market is expected to increase by 19.6 percent from last year to 78 billion yuan this year.

The number of pet dogs and cats is forecasted to reach 99.15 million in China this year, rising by 7.66 million from last year.

In addition, compared to last year, the annual consumption for a single pet is expected to reach 5,561 yuan this year, an increase of 545 yuan.