The top ten veterinary drug manufacturers accounted for 73% of the natural volume of the retail market, ensuring 26% sales growth in the first 3 months of 2025, according to the analytical company RNC Pharma. During the first quarter, 63 million minimum marketed doses (MMD) of veterinary drugs were sold, 16.7% more than in the same period last year (54 million MMD). Top 10 companies in terms of natural sales in the Russian market include mainly domestic manufacturers, with only 3 foreign companies on the list.
The monetary volume of veterinary drug retail amounted to 11.2 billion rubles (in retail prices, including VAT). The market increased by 26% in rubles y-o-y. American companies Zoetis and Elanco accounted for a significant part of consumer spending in Q1. The two businesses had about 23% of the ruble volume of the veterinary medicine retail market. Zoetis saw its ruble sales grow 39% y-o-y, and Elanco 5% y-o-y.
Russian companies, however, led in natural units sales. The absolute sales leader Agrovetzashita, a Russian company, with almost 18% of the veterinary medicines market (in MMD). From January to March, customers purchased more than 11 million units of the company’s products. Analysts also noted the portfolio of Agrovetzashchita in the veterinary retail: more than 80 brands of the company were present on the market in the first quarter.
Agrovetzashchita is streets ahead of the other companies that follow it in the rating. For instance, Slovenian KRKA, which came second, had 8.8% of sales in natural units (5.54 mln MMD). Russian company Nita-Pharm went up as many as 8 positions, taking the third place in the list. The manufacturer’s share of sales was 8.7% (5.48 mln MMD). Sales of the company’s products in the retail market increased 2.5 times y-o-y.
Analysts also singled out domestic producers Apitsenna and Agrobioprom, also included in the top 10. Both companies have impressive sales dynamics: 35% and 34% per year, respectively.
The only company that showed a decrease in sales in physical units in the top 10 was Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim. In natural units, sales went down 17% y-o-y. Customers purchased 3.14 mln MMD of Boehringer Ingelheim veterinary products in Q1 2025, compared to 3.79 mln MMD in Q1 2024.
RNC Pharma added that demand for animal drugs in March 2025 was expected to increase in comparison to the previous month, with ruble volume up 74% and natural volume up 24%. According to analysts, there is a “high season” in the market. Ectoparasitic and antihelminthic drugs accounted for more than 66% of total spending in March. Experts noted that the demand for these categories of drugs began to grow in February due to abnormally warm weather. Ectoparasitic and antihelminthic drugs showed a 41.6% growth y-o-y in monetary terms in March.
In 2024, according to RNS Pharma, the retail market for veterinary drugs in Russia reached 41.7 billion rubles, up 15.8% year-on-year. During the year, 249.3 million packages of tablets, vials, ampoules and other animal drugs were sold. The sales leader was the American Zoetis, just ahead of the Russian Ecoprom.
