Oil Dri Of America's

Price, customer service, marketing, technical support, product quality and distribution resources are the principal methods of competition in our markets and competition historically has been very vigorous. Some of our competitors, particularly in the sale of cat litter (the largest product in our Retail and Wholesale Products Group), have substantially greater financial resources or market presence than we do and have established brands.

In our Retail and Wholesale Products Group, we have five principal competitors, including one which is also our customer. The overall cat litter market has been stable in recent years as household cat ownership has remained relatively constant. Scoopable products have a majority of the cat litter market share followed by traditional coarse products. Growth in the scoopable cat litter segment has been driven by the introduction of lightweight products, while coarse cat litter continues to decline. The overwhelming majority of all cat litter is mineral based; however, cat litters based on alternative strata such as paper, various agricultural waste products and silica gels have niche positions. There is significant competition to attract consumers of cat litter across multi-outlet channels, including grocery, mass-merchandisers, dollar, pet and drug stores. We differentiate ourselves through product innovation, our operations with a nation-wide distribution network, strong customer service and world class sales, marketing and research and development teams, which gives us a potential advantage over smaller and regional manufacturers.

In the Business to Business Products Group, we have ten principal competitors. Our agricultural chemical carrier products have experienced competition from new engineered granular technologies in the agricultural and horticultural markets. Our bleaching clay and fluids purification products are sold in a highly cost competitive global marketplace. Performance is a primary competitive factor for these products. The animal health portion of this segment also operates in a global marketplace with price and performance competition from multi-national and local competitors.