Hi Véronique,

I think 'kolom' here refers to an industry segment. Hence 'animal food segment'. If the text is about pets/pet food, the correct translation would be 'pet food segment'.

Pets are still increasing in popularity. A positive trend that will continue in the coming years. And who profits from it? Apart from the requisites segment, mainly the pet food industry. The figures from Euromonitor London speak for themselves: As much as 80 % of the West European market volume for pet supplies, amounting to some 11.5 milliard euro, is attributed to the pet food segment. Tendency rising. It is a question of utilizing this potential - at Interzoo - the biggest international trade fair for pet supplies.
http://www.interzoo.com/main/duzmnfje/de887bhm/page.html

This report covers the market for pet food, pet services, and pet supplies in the U.S. and analyzes major foreign markets for U.S. pet products. The report is divided into the following eight sections:

Introduction
Summary
Pets and Their Owners
Pet Industry Overview
Pet Food Segment
Pet Services Segment
Pet Supplies Segment
International Aspects
http://www.the-infoshop.com/study/bc18390_pet_industry.html

"Kolom" refers to the value or supply chain. A series of consecutive industries or market sectors. IMO not one segment, industry or step in the production chain.
You can add 'animal', but it is left to your choice (feedingstuff already implies food for animals)

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Note added at 49 mins (2005-01-19 13:31:47 GMT)
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Or: feedstuffs chain

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Note added at 50 mins (2005-01-19 13:32:59 GMT)
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Webref: http://www.neutrec.com/market/0,0,-_EN-1000418,00.html

Sector is typically Dutch, I think. Industry is the equivalent of sector at least in the US and Canada.

[PDF] LEAST COST OPTIMIZATION FOR THE PETFOOD INDUSTRY
Bestandsformaat: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - HTML versie
Petfood Industry Home Page
Industry News New board members. Animal Agriculture Alliance Board adds Hill
and Becker. Proof positive. BSE confirmed in Canadian cow. ...
www.wattnet.com/PET/Home01.cfm?PG=4 - 5k - In cache - Gelijkwaardige pagina's
[ Meer resultaten van www.wattnet.com ]

... Figure 1: Cost of nutrient limits LEAST COST OPTIMIZATION FOR THE PETFOOD INDUSTRY
By David Schons, Format International Cost of potassium per one per cent ...
www.format-international.com/ documents/Petfood_article.pdf - Gelijkwaardige pagina's