Beef Highlights:

August 2025:

Beef: 63,455 mt, -20% and the lowest since June 2020; $617 million, -18% and the lowest since February 2021
BVM: 19,943 mt, -17% and up 2% from July but otherwise the lowest since June 2020; $79 million, -13% and the lowest since February
Beef + BVM: 83,388 mt, -19% and the lowest since June 2020; $695 million, -18% and the lowest since February 2021
January – August 2025:

Beef: 602,690 mt, -9.5% and the lowest since 2016; $5.703 billion, -8.5% and the lowest since 2020
BVM: 172,498 mt, -10% and the lowest since 2005; $664 million, -11.5% and the lowest since 2021
Beef + BVM: 775,188 mt, -9.5% and the lowest since 2016; $6.367 billion, -9% and the lowest since 2020

*Note that because USDA released historical revisions that are not incorporated in our pdfs that the percentage change is now slightly off for the beef value change in our pdfs compared to the USDA GATS database.  For Jan – August, total beef cut export value in the GATS database is down 9%.  The percentage change in our pdfs is -9.50%, so that is rounding down to -10% in our PDFs.

August beef muscle cut exports totaled 63,445 mt, down 19.5% or down more than 15,000 mt from 2024 for the second consecutive month.  This was the lowest monthly volume since May/June 2020 (and otherwise it was the lowest since April 2016). 

• Compared to the previous year, August beef muscle cut exports were higher to South America (+184 mt), Central America (+167 mt), South Korea (+148 mt), EU 27 + UK (+109 mt), and CIS (+13 mt), while exports were lower to China/HK (-10,436 mt), Mexico (-1,977 mt), Taiwan (-871 mt), Canada (-800 mt), ASEAN (-749 mt), Japan (-736 mt), Middle East (-232 mt), Caribbean + DR (-116 mt), and Africa (-28 mt).
• Exports to South Korea jumped to over 24,000 mt in May, which was the highest level in nearly two years, as the market absorbed product that would have been exported to China.  Exports eased to 18,817 mt in June, but that was still up 3% from last year (but down from June volumes from 2021 – 2023).  Exports were 19,302 mt in July, up 16% from last year and above 2023 (but still down from the July volumes from 2018 – 2022).  Exports slowed to 16,458 mt in August, which was the lowest volume in a year (but up 1% year-over-year).
• August exports to Japan slowed to 16,168 mt, which was the lowest since January and down 4.4% from last year.
• August beef muscle cut exports to Mexico slowed to 6,537 mt, which was down 23% from last year and was the lowest since July 2022. 
• Exports to Canada have been lower than last year each month since March.  August exports slowed to 6,330 mt, which was down 11% from last year and was the lowest since February 2024.
• Exports to Taiwan have been below year-ago levels since April.  June shipments reached the highest level in a year at 6,200 mt (although they were down 15% from last June), but shipments slowed to 4,655 mt in July, which was down 24% from last year.  August shipments rebounded somewhat from July to 4,946 mt, but that was down 15% from last year.   
• July combined exports to China/HK dropped to just 4,202 mt, the lowest level since 2012.  Combined exports in August were up modestly from July at 4,373 mt, which was down 70% or down nearly 10,500 mt from last year.  Exports to China slowed to just 816 mt, down 94% or down 11,800 mt from last year.  Exports to HK were 3,557 mt, up 61% or up 1,350 mt from last year and the highest since 2021.
• For the ASEAN region, exports to the Philippines held above 1,400 for the fifth consecutive month in August at 1,409 mt, up 28% from last year.  Exports were higher to Vietnam (461 mt, +105%) but lower to Singapore (284 mt, -38%) following strong shipments in July.  7 mt of exports were reported to Indonesia, down from over 1,000 mt last August but the first reported exports to the market since April.
• For the Caribbean, exports to the DR (862 mt, +12%) were the highest in three months, and shipments to the DR remain on a record pace.  Exports were also higher to the Bahamas (277 mt, +9%) for the 12^th consecutive month.  Exports to Cuba have slowed since the second half of 2024, and no exports were reported to Cuba in May and June 2025 for the first time since April 2023.  In July, 25 mt of exports were reported to Cuba, compared to 154 mt last year, and in August, just 1 mt was reported, compared to 165 mt last year.
• Exports to Guatemala are on a record pace, and August exports were 697 mt, up 42% from last year.  August exports were also higher to Costa Rica (220 mt, +38%) and Honduras (156 mt, +36%), but were lower to Panama (180 mt, -35%).   
• For South America, exports to Chile slowed to 291 mt, down 4% from last year after July exports were the highest since 2022 at 558 mt.
• For the Middle East,  August exports were higher to Kuwait (185 mt, +65%) but were lower to UAE (232 mt, -32%) and Qatar (137 mt, -18%).

August beef variety meat exports were up 2% from July when exports dropped to 19,523 mt at 19,943 mt.  August exports were down 17% or -3,958 mt from last year.  Apart from July, exports were the lowest since May/June 2020 (and when excluding 2020, exports were the lowest since 2006). 

• In August, bvm exports were higher than last year to Caribbean + DR (+172 mt) and South America (+159 mt), but were lower to the other regions: China/HK (-1,504 mt), Mexico (-1,289 mt), Korea (-453 mt), Japan (-433 mt), Africa (-265 mt), Middle East (-123 mt), Canada (-116 mt), Central America (-98 mt), and ASEAN (-9 mt).  
• BVM exports to Mexico rebounded to 9,234 mt in August, which was down 12% from last year but was the highest since January.
• Exports to Canada rebounded to 842 mt, which was down 12% from last year but was the highest since March.
• Exports to Japan slowed to 3,248 mt in August, the lowest since February and down 12% from last year.
• Exports to South Korea slowed to 365 mt in August, which was the lowest since 2021 and was down 55% from last year.
• Combined bvm exports to China/HK totaled just 818 mt in August, down 65% or down about 1,500 mt from last year.  This was the lowest monthly total since January 2021.  Exports to China were just 46 mt, down 97% or down 1,633 mt from last year, while exports to HK were 772 mt, up 20% or up 129 mt from last year.  Exports to HK have been about ~750 mt for the last three months.
• For the ASEAN region, August exports to the Philippines jumped to 322 mt, up 125% from last year and the highest since 2022.  No exports were reported to Indonesia for the fifth consecutive month compared to 119 mt last August.  Exports to Vietnam were 38 mt, down 70% from last year.   
• For South America, exports to Peru were 382 mt, down 8% from last year, but exports to Chile were up 167% from last year at 222 mt. 
• BVM exports to Jamaica increased to 239 mt in August, up 149% from last year and the highest since May 2024.
• After nearing 4,000 mt in January and holding over 3,000 mt in both February and March, BVM exports to Egypt dropped to just 2,476 mt in April and 2,656 mt in May.  However, volumes rebounded in June to 3,522 mt.  Volumes slowed again in July to 2,733 mt, down 10% from last year.  August volumes totaled 2,980 mt, down 4% from last year.
• Negligible volumes have been shipped to South Africa over the last ten months, and no exports were reported in July for the second consecutive month following just 24 mt in May (compared to 687 mt in July 2025).  However, exports of 132 mt were reported in August, still down notably from last year (-71%) but the highest since November.  Exports to Cote d’Ivoire slowed to 136 mt in August, down 42% and the lowest since last July, following shipments of over 550 mt in July.  Exports to Morocco slowed to 190 mt in July, the lowest monthly volume since January, after averaging 437 mt per month from Feb through June.  August exports were 235 mt, up 209% from last year. Exports to Morocco are livers and volumes slowed in July/August as U.S. export volume was already approaching and the annual lower-duty TRQ for livers through its FTA with Morocco.

January – August beef muscle cut + variety meat exports totaled 775,188 mt, down 9.5% or -81,695 mt from 2024.  Exports were higher year-over-year to South Korea (+11,842 mt), Africa (+1,090 mt), South America (+936 mt), Central America (+868 mt), EU 27 + UK (+573 mt), and CIS (+28 mt).  Exports were lower to China/HK (-53,933 mt), Mexico (-15,759 mt), ASEAN (-7,313 mt), Taiwan (-5,202 mt), Canada (-5,189 mt), Japan (-5,167 mt), Middle East (-3,211 mt), and Caribbean + DR (-1,090 mt).    

August 2025 beef exports accounted for 9.8% of production and 12.1% when adding variety meats, compared to 10.8% and 13.1% in August 2024.  January – August 2025 beef exports accounted for 11.0% of production and 13.1% when adding variety meats, compared to 11.6% and 13.9% for January – August 2024. 

August 2025 beef export value per head of fed slaughter averaged $372.10/head, down 5% or -$19.06/head from $391.16/head in August 2024.  January – August 2025 beef export value per head of fed slaughter averaged $400.16/head, down 3.5% or -$14.73/head from $414.88/head for January – August 2024. 

Source: USMEF