Animal cloning never became a popular or profitable business.
However, this industry has made human cloning a reality.
For better or worse, all that remains is to legalise it.
The first animals that were cloned in Australia were a sheep named Matilda and a calf named Susie, 25 years ago. The world premiere of a clone occurred five years earlier. This milestone was Dolly the sheep. However, by 2025, the animal cloning market has yet to become a full-fledged industry, either in Australia or globally. Animal cloning is developing with a small commercial component and a large component of scientific research. All of this seems like preparations for the main performance. For better or worse, this performance is human cloning, which is currently prohibited.
The animal cloning market: global format and Australia
The global pet cloning market is expected to grow from US$3.74 billion in 2024 to US$4.32 billion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.4 per cent. By 2029, the market size will increase to US$7.42 billion, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.5 per cent.1 However, the global commercial animal cloning market (domestic and farm) is much smaller. In 2023, this market was valued at only US$512 million. By 2031, the commercial animal cloning market is expected to reach US$948.8 million, with a CAGR of 8.6 per cent.2 This means that commercial animal cloning represents only about 16 per cent of the total cloning volume.
This is explained by the fact that research institutes constitute the largest segment of end users of cloning products. In 2024, these organisations accounted for approximately 40 per cent of the total market. A significant portion of other market participants, including biotechnology companies, veterinary clinics, and companies with other activities, are also engaged in research rather than commercialisation.3 To date, cloning has been conducted primarily for research rather than for sale.
The first cloning experiments began in 1956. Research is currently being conducted in nearly 40 countries, and humanity has cloned approximately 60 animal species. However, the cloning process remains very expensive due to its low efficiency and the large amount of labour involved. This prevents cloning from becoming a profitable business and, on the contrary, stimulates continued research to improve the process.
Think about it. For most animal species, the success rate of cloning is only 1-2 per cent! But even achieving this result requires a great deal of work. For example, to clone the world’s first dog, Snappy, it was necessary to successfully implant 1,000 embryos into 123 surrogate mothers.4 To create the first cloned animal, Dolly the sheep, 277 embryos were implanted into 29 surrogate mothers!
It’s no surprise that the prices for cloned animals are very high. The cost of cloning a horse worldwide ranges from US$50,000 to US$113,000. Cloning a cat costs US$35,000 to US$50,000. Cloning a dog is estimated at US$76,000. Cloning a cow and a pig costs US$15,000 and US$4,000, respectively. Paying this amount for cloning will not improve the genetics. After all, cloning doesn’t do that. Alternative breeding technologies: genetic engineering, selective breeding, and artificial insemination are cheaper and more effective!2
In the current situation, Australia held 1.9 per cent of the global DNA and gene cloning services market in 2023. In 2023, the Australian market was worth US$47.6 million. By 2030, this figure is expected to reach US$114 million, representing a compound annual growth rate of 13.3 per cent. In 2023, the most profitable service was gene synthesis. However, in the foreseeable future, individual cloning will see the most rapid growth.5
Even within the Asia-Pacific region, the Australian market is insignificant. China, the leading market by volume, is almost six times larger. Entire market segments are also missing in Australia. For example, pet cloning is not practised in Australia, even though Australian laws permit it. And the proportion of Australian households owning pets is higher than in the US, where this market is highly developed. The ratio of both figures is 69 per cent and 66 per cent.1
Things are slightly better in the commercial animal cloning market. This business has been developing in the country since 2001, when the first two bulls, Alpha and Beta, were produced for sale to China at a cost of US$200,000 each.6 Australian law prohibits the sale of meat from cloned animals and their direct offspring. However, the sale of meat from second- and subsequent-generation clones is permitted. Most cloned animals in Australia are cattle7and graze on pastures in New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria. The total number of cloned animals is approximately 200.
Forecast for the development of the cloning market
The animal cloning market is like a car engine warming up before driving. Although cloning has never become a popular or profitable business, research in this area continues. And this may be due to more than just the search for more advanced animal cloning methods.
As this industry develops, legislation in many countries is becoming more lenient towards human cloning. Australia is no exception to this trend. Back in 2002, the country passed a law banning human cloning and providing for penalties of up to 15 years in prison, the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction Act 2002 (Cth).8 However, in 2006, Australian lawmakers amended the Act to permit “therapeutic cloning”. This cloning involves replacing a cell nucleus for tissue engineering. This makes it possible to create tissue rather than a child. The principal Act was amended by the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction and the Regulation of Human Embryo Research Amendment Act 2006 (Cth).9
The legislative change occurred simultaneously with advances in human cell cloning. In 2004, scientists in South Korea succeeded in cloning 30 human embryos. They grew the embryos in the laboratory until they became hollow spheres of cells and derived a stem cell line from them.10 So, first, the scientists achieved a practical result. Then, legislators in various countries authorised this work.
If we proceed in this direction, human cloning, currently prohibited in almost all countries, will soon be permitted post factum. The preconditions for successful human cloning have already been created. Following the successful cloning of crab-eating macaques in 2017, scientists acknowledged that human cloning has become technically feasible.11
If human cloning is legally permitted, the industry’s main problems will be resolved. In the case of human cloning, the prohibitive cost and labour-intensive nature of the process will become irrelevant. At least, this will be the case if only the very wealthy or important individuals are cloned. This will be an unexpected turn in the history of the cloning industry.
However, this isn’t happening yet, at least, there’s no official information about human cloning anywhere. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. The cloning market remains one of the most expensive and mysterious sectors of the human economy.
References
1. https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/pet-cloning-global-market-report
2. https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/product/commercial-animal-cloning-market/
3. https://marketintelo.com/report/animal-cloning-market
4. https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/dog-spies/the-hidden-dogs-of-dog-cloning/
5. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/horizon/outlook/dna-and-gene-cloning-services-market/australia
6. https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/do/10.5555/collection-news-979/full/
7. https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/foodtech/clone
8. https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A01081/asmade/text
9. https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2006A00172/latest/text
10. https://uaroceania.org/what-is-animal-research/areas-research/animal-cloning
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhong_Zhong_and_Hua_Hua
