American Beef Export Trade Stats: December 2025

Beef Highlights:

December 2025:

Beef: 70,201 mt, -19% but the highest since June; $687 million, -16% and the highest since May
BVM: 28,394 mt, +20% and the highest since May 2022; $122 million, +47% and a new monthly record
Beef + BVM: 98,595 mt, -10.5% but the highest since April; $809 million, -10% and also the highest since April

January – December 2025:

Beef: 865,599 mt, -13% and the lowest since 2016; $8.249 billion, -12% and the lowest since 2020
BVM: 270,606 mt, -6% and the lowest since 2005; $1.084 billion, -1% and the lowest since 2021
Beef + BVM: 1.136 million mt, -12% and the lowest since 2015; $9.333 billion, -11% and the lowest since 2020

December beef muscle cut exports totaled 70,201 mt, down 19% or -16,388 mt year-over-year but the highest monthly total since June.

Compared to the previous year, December beef muscle cut exports were to ASEAN (+663 mt), the Middle East (+410 mt), Caribbean + DR (+187 mt), South America (+88 mt), Africa (+24 mt), and CIS (+22 mt). Exports were lower to China/HK (-10,874 mt), Mexico (-1,968 mt), Japan (-1,795 mt), Korea (-1,659 mt), Canada (-597 mt), Taiwan (-490 mt), Central America (-237 mt), and EU 27 + UK (-131 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). In September, exports to Korea slowed to 14,201 mt, down 18% from last year and the lowest since June 2017. Exports rebounded somewhat from the previous month and totaled 16,043 mt in October, but that was down 14% year-over-year, and in November, exports were 16,676 mt, the highest since July, but down 19% year-over-year. Exports further increased in December to 19,960 mt, which was down 8% from last year but was the highest since April. For the year, beef cut exports to Korea edged up 1% year-over-year to nearly 225,000 mt.
November exports to Japan slowed to 12,613 mt, the lowest since 2015 and down 18% year-over-year. In December, exports rebounded modestly from the previous month to 13,406 mt, but that was down 12% year-over-year.
December beef exports to Mexico rebounded somewhat from the previous month but were below year-ago levels for the ninth consecutive month at 8,063 mt, down 20% year-over-year.
Exports to Canada were 7,015 mt, down 8% year-over-year.
In December, exports to Taiwan totaled 5,650 mt, down 8% year-over-year but the second highest monthly total of the year after the June total of over 6,200 mt.
September combined exports to China/HK dropped to 3,846 mt, down 75% from 2024 or down 11,360 mt. This was the lowest combined volume since 2012. In October, volumes rebounded modestly to 4,345 mt, which was down 76% from last year or down 13,482 mt. In November, exports totaled 4,921 mt, down 70% year-over-year. December exports totaled 5,747 mt, down 65% year-over-year but the highest since April. December exports to China were just 917 mt, down 94% from the previous year. Exports to HK increased to 4,830 mt, up 94% and the highest since December 2020.
For the ASEAN region, exports to the Philippines rebounded from 598 mt in November to 746 mt in December, which was down 38% from the previous year. Exports had been over 1,400 mt each month from April through September and were nearly 1,100 mt in October before the slowdown at the end of the year. For the year, 2025 muscle cut exports to the Philippines held steady with the 2024 record at 14,628 mt. After reaching a monthly high of 2,759 mt in November, December exports to Indonesia were 1,160 mt, up significantly from minimal volumes the previous year. But for the year, exports to Indonesia were only 6,593 mt, down 43% from 2024.
For the Caribbean, exports to the DR totaled 942 mt, up 20% year-over-year and the highest since May. For the year, exports to the DR edged up slightly from the 2024 record to 9,628 mt. After rebounding to 247 mt in November, exports to Cuba were just 4 mt in December, down from 126 mt the prior year. For the year, 2025 exports to Cuba were 976 mt, down 70% from 3,241 mt in 2024. Exports remained strong to the Bahamas, Leeward-Windward Islands, Netherlands Antilles, Trinidad & Tobago, and Turks & Caicos.
Exports to Guatemala totaled 704 mt in December, up 48% from the previous year. This brought the 2025 annual total to 9,242 mt for muscle cuts, up 2% from 2024 and record large for the 10^th consecutive year.
Following strong exports of over 630 mt in November, exports to Chile totaled 232 mt in December, down 32% from the previous year. For the year, 2025 exports were 4,137 mt, the highest since 2022.
In September, exports to the UAE were the highest since March at 597 mt. In October, volumes totaled 368 mt, and in November, exports were 492 mt. In December, exports totaled 415 mt, up notably from 2024 when Q4 exports were minimal.

December beef variety meat exports totaled 28,394 mt, up 20% year-over-year or +4,812 mt and the highest monthly total since May 2022. The larger volumes were driven by increases in reported exports to Japan, Mexico, Egypt, and Taiwan.

In November, bvm exports were higher than last year to Japan (+2,463 mt), but were lower to all other main destinations: China/HK (-1,272 mt), Mexico (-834 mt), Middle East (-659 mt), South America (-442 mt), Africa (-295 mt), Canada (-280 mt), Central America (-264 mt), South Korea (-250 mt), ASEAN (-187 mt), and Caribbean + DR (-119 mt).

In December, bvm exports were higher than the previous year to Japan (+1,674 mt), Mexico (+1,218 mt), the Middle East (+1,160 mt), Taiwan (+908 mt), South America (+251 mt), ASEAN (+107 mt), China/HK (+86 mt), and Caribbean + DR (+67 mt), while exports were lower to Africa (-488 mt), Canada (-135 mt), Korea (-30 mt), and Central America (-22 mt).
BVM exports to Mexico jumped to 11,755 mt in December, up 12% year-over-year and the highest since January (and otherwise the highest since 2016).
Exports to Canada were 777 mt in December, down 15% year-over-year.
Volumes to Japan jumped to 5,363 mt in October, which was up 76% or +2,300 mt from the previous year. Volumes increased further in November to 5,495 mt, which was up 81% from the previous year or up nearly 2,500 mt and was the highest since July 2022. Volumes were 5,240 mt in December, up 47% year-over-year and holding above 5,000 mt for the third consecutive month.
Exports to SK were 550 mt in December, down 5% year-over-year and below year-ago levels for the eighth consecutive month.
Combined bvm exports to China/HK rebounded to 2,631 mt in December, up 3% year-over-year and the highest since November 2024. Exports to China were 120 mt, the highest since June but down 93% from the previous year. Exports to HK were record large in December at 2,511 mt, up 244% from the previous year.
Exports to Taiwan were the highest since 2000 at 919 mt, up from 11 mt the previous year.
For the ASEAN region, 253 mt of exports were reported to Indonesia, up 114% year-over-year, and 104 mt were reported to the Philippines, up 42%.
For South America, exports to Peru rebounded to 756 mt in December, up 42% year-over-year and the highest since October 2024.
After slowing to just 18 mt in November, bvm exports to Jamaica rebounded to 227 mt in December, up 18% year-over-year and the second highest monthly total of the year.
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 and August volumes totaled 2,980 mt. In September, volumes rebounded to 3,297 mt, up 42% year-over-year and the highest in three months. October shipments totaled 3,012 mt, down 13% year-over-year, and November shipments were 3,262 mt, down 17% year-over-year. In December, volumes increased to 3,532 mt, up 47% year-over-year and the highest since January. This brought the 2025 bvm total to Egypt down just 1% year-over-year at nearly 38,000 mt.
Negligible volumes of bvm were shipped to South Africa from Q4 of 2024 through August 2025, and no exports were reported in June or July 2025. Exports of 132 mt were reported in August, and exports of 136 mt were reported in September. October exports reached 252 mt, and November exports were 231 mt, up 54% from 150 mt in November 2024. In December, exports totaled 312 mt, the highest since September 2024 and up from 77 mt in December 2024. Exports to Cote d’Ivoire were 151 mt in December, down 59% year-over-year, while exports to Gabon were 215 mt, down 54%.

January – December beef muscle cut + variety meat exports totaled 1.136 million mt, down 12% or -149,386 mt from 2024. Exports were higher year-over-year to South America (+641 mt), Africa (+547 mt), the EU + UK (+201 mt), and CIS (+49 mt), and exports were steady to Korea. Exports were lower for the year to China/HK (-104,291 mt), Mexico (-23,394 mt), ASEAN (-6,458 mt), Japan (-4,894 mt), Canada (-4,388 mt), Taiwan (-3,789 mt), the Caribbean + DR (-1,230 mt), Central America (-1,022 mt), and the Middle East (-999 mt).

December 2025 beef exports accounted for 9.5% of production and 12.5% when adding variety meats, compared to 12.3% and 14.6% in December 2024. January – December 2025 beef exports accounted for 10.4% of production and 12.7% when adding variety meats, compared to 11.5% and 13.9% for January – December 2024.

December 2025 beef export value per head of fed slaughter averaged $393.13/head, down 11% or -$50.60/head from $443.73/head in December 2024. January – December 2025 beef export value per head of fed slaughter averaged $391.94/head, down 6% or -$23.15/head from $415.08/head for January – December 2024.

Source: USMEF