Tofu cat litter is an environmental-friendly and safe clumping cat litter. The production process has been matured. More and more cat owners have begun to learn about and accept tofu cat litter. Compared with traditional bentonite cat litter, tofu cat litter, which is more convenient, more environmental-friendly and safer, has become the new darling of cat litter.
The most intuitive parameter when purchasing tofu cat litter is the price. Why is the price of tofu cat litter so high? Why are the prices of different brands of tofu cat litter so different? What price is a relatively normal price for tofu cat litter? In the face of a dazzling array of tofu cat litter products, do you also have such questions? Let's find out about them today.
The raw materials of tofu cat litter
At present, the main raw materials of tofu cat litter are soybean fiber, corn starch, and guar gum. In order to improve the quality of their own tofu cat litter, some factories will use pea fiber as the raw material. So the tofu cat litter produced is whiter in color and has stronger coagulation ability, but it also increases the cost. Taking the high-end tofu cat litter produced by pea fiber as an example, the current market price of pea fiber is about CNY1300-1700 per ton, corn starch is about CNY4300-5000 per ton. Although the amount of guar gum is small, as a food-grade additive, the price is generally more than CNY10,000 per ton, and the better price is generally more than CNY15,000. Taking 75% pea fiber, 20% corn starch, and 5% guar gum per ton of tofu cat litter as an example, the raw material cost per ton of tofu cat litter is 2500-3000 yuan, or even higher.
The production process of tofu cat litter
Let's first take a look at how tofu cat litter is produced. In order to produce a bag of qualified tofu cat litter, we need to go through the following steps: transport raw materials to mixing equipment - mix by mixer - transport to granulating equipment - granulator machine for production granules - transport to drying equipment for drying - transport to cooling equipment for cooling - grading screen for sorting - packing scale for packaging. This is the general process of tofu cat litter production. At the same time, each manufacturer has its own formula for the ratio of raw materials, especially guar gum, whose usage and dosage directly affect the strength and clumping ability of the finished product. Too low a dosage will reduce the strength of the tofu cat litter, and it is easy to break and generate dust. Too much dosage will reduce the dissolution rate of tofu cat litter, and it cannot be easily flushed into the toilet. It can be seen that the production process of tofu cat litter is not only more complicated but also has certain technical barriers. Therefore, tofu cat litter has a high production cost and process added value.
What price is normal for tofu cat litter
Earlier, we briefly learn about the raw material cost and production cost of tofu cat litter, plus the profit of the factory, the price of tofu cat litter is generally around CNY4500-5000 per ton. Then the terminal price should be added to the transportation cost, operating cost, and profit of the retailer. Taking 6L (2.5kg) vacuum-packed tofu cat litter in China's domestic market as an example, the terminal price is generally CNY20-25 per bag. High-end products are around CNY30 per bag. This is a relatively normal price for cat litter.
Why are the prices of different brands of tofu cat litter so different?
As mentioned earlier, most tofu cat litter manufacturers use pea fiber as raw material to improve the quality of tofu cat litter, use food-grade additive guar gum to improve the safety of tofu cat litter. The price of pea fiber is generally CNY300-500 per ton higher than soybean fiber. Some unscrupulous merchants even use industrial glue to pretend to be guar gum. Although it reduces the cost, it goes against the original intention of tofu cat litter and also harms the health of cats. Therefore, when we are choosing tofu cat litter, some products with extremely low prices require us to choose carefully.
Why are some tofu cat litter so expensive?
The first is the brand effect. Many big brands, or Internet celebrity brands, generally have high prices, and some are even ridiculously high. The high selling price is mainly due to the huge marketing operation cost and brand premium of the merchants. For products that have been manufactured by the same factory, the price of tofu cat litter affixed with a big brand may be several times the price of it affixed with an ordinary brand.
The second is marketing gimmicks. Many businesses advertise the addition of deodorant factors to tofu cat litter, the use of nanotechnology, and so on. The author thinks most of them are just marketing gimmicks. Cat litter is just only a tool for wrapping cat feces, will manufacturers use nanotechnology to produce it? Adding some high-tech words is nothing more than trying to increase the price of their own tofu cat litter. In fact, the most important indicator of tofu cat litter is fast and strong clumping. I hope that the cat owners will not be misled.
Price trend of tofu cat litter
We already know that the cost of raw materials accounts for a large proportion of the cost of tofu cat litter, more than 50%, which makes the price of raw materials have a greater impact on the price of finished cat litter. At present, due to COVID-19, the price of raw materials, labor costs, and transportation costs are at the high point of the industry, so most tofu cat litter manufacturers have raised the price of finished tofu cat litter by about CNY300-600 per ton. At present, the price of tofu cat litter is higher than the historical level in the same period, and the price is bound to fall as the COVID-19 eases. But at the same time, if COVID-19 worsens, the price of raw materials will rise, which will lead to the risk of a further rise in the price of tofu cat litter.
