Pick Your Economic Poison
Happy (?) Friday! Not sure if we can be happy given all of the unfortunate news happening with the economy. BUT it’s the weekend and we can only take the time to enjoy it as much as possible. Keep your chins up and do something fun with friends and family!
—CN & JB
Company Performance (7/7 - 7/14)
Stock Market Update: A bit lackluster week, mostly driven by the general state of the economy (read more about that below). We suspect this will continue to be the general trend given the FED is expected to raise interest rates again at the end of the month.
Animal Health Market to Reach new Heights
(Source: Nastasic / Getty Images/iStockphoto)
If the last few years have taught us anything, it is that the animal health market is anything but stagnant. The industry is expected to grow from $35.1 Billion in 2021 to $45.42 Billion by 2028 - that is an annual growth rate of 3.75%. While this growth rate is slightly above average (or rather targeted) inflation rate of 3%, I think we all recognize that inflation has been growing faster than Jack’s beanstalk in our favorite bedtime story. In fact, inflation in the pet sector has hit over 7.5% year over year. While that doesn’t mean that the industry’s future isn’t bright, it just means we need caution in running away with those numbers and thinking the industry is recession proof.
Zoonosis
(Source: Picture for representational purpose only. Photo Courtesy: Instagram/@mfine_care)
One of the most important roles that veterinarians serve is protecting the public from zoonosis - the transmission of animal disease to humans. While this issue is largely controlled and prevented in high income countries, the same is sadly not true for many low and middle income countries. A new report finds that zoonosis is up 60% in Africa. This has huge impacts on African economies and the global economy as those countries are the ones we expect to contribute the most over the next 20-30 years. Finding ways to tackle this issue now will help the veterinary industry leapfrog over that $45 Billion estimate mentioned just above. Saving the world, improving lives, and adding some more money to the industry sounds like a win-win-win in our opinion.
Shameless Self Promotion on Research…
(Source: GIPHY)
As many of you know, I (Clint) am a research and I do a wide variety of work on the veterinary industry. Growing up in a small, rural community large/food animal production is something near and dear to my heart and I wanted to get back to those roots. So, I decided to write a grant and start a new imitative in my research program. As such, I am fortunate to receive a recent grant from USDA to study the economics of rural veterinary businesses! If you want to read more about what I am going to be doing over the next 4 years, check out this article Cornell did on this new research.
I suppose that if I am going to have a newsletter, I should share the exciting news that happens in my professional life.
-CN
Weekly Dose of Happiness
(Source: GIPHY)
Alpaca’s are cool animals, and not just because their cousins (llamas) have stared in movies (Napolean Dynamite anyone?!). One alpaca though is making headlines with all of it’s oddities. She thinks she is a dog and gets to ride in a car! Gotta say that is living the life.
Meet the kitten aptly named for how is was rescued. Hint: the name of the kitten is Cash.
General Economy Update
(Source: GIPHY)
I am sure everyone saw the headlines this week that inflation continues to be crazier than your least favorite uncle at the holiday dinner party after they have had too much to drink. Inflation soared in June to 9.1% mostly driven by gas prices. Fortunately, the price of oil and gas is coming down, but prices are still at historic highs. At the same time, everything else is still being affected by inflation and supply chain bottlenecks. I am starting to should like a broken record… or maybe I am just more annoying than a pimple on the tip of your nose with all this inflation talk. What it means for the veterinary industry is that consumers will continue to pinch pennies and act more like Scrooge McDuck. It will be good to keep that in mind as visits continue to decline and prices for services continue to rise. Also expect interest rates to climb rather heartily again later this month…
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