Beef Highlights:

July 2025:

Beef: 70,056 mt, -18% and the lowest since June 2020; $669 million, -18% and the lowest since January 2024
BVM: 19,523 mt, -23% and the lowest since June 2020; $83 million, -14% (lower than June but above April and May of this year)
Beef + BVM: 89,579 mt, -19% and the lowest since June 2020; $753 million, -17% and the lowest since January 2023

*note that apart from May and June 2020, combined beef and bvm volume exports were the lowest since April 2016 in July; for beef cuts only, apart from May and June 2020, July 2025 volumes were the lowest since February 2019

January – July 2025:

Beef: 539,245 mt, -8% and the lowest since 2020 (and otherwise the lowest since 2017); $5.086 billion, -7% and the lowest since 2021
BVM: 152,555 mt, -9% and the lowest since 2005; $585 million, -11% and the lowest since 2021
Beef + BVM: 691,800 mt, -8% and the lowest since 2016; $5.671 billion, -7.5% and the lowest since 2021

*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 and bvm value change in our pdfs compared to the USDA GATS database.  For Jan – July, total beef and bvm export value in the GATS database is down 7%.  The percentage change in our pdfs if -7.55%, so that is rounding down to -8% in our PDFs.

July beef muscle cut exports totaled 70,056 mt, down 18% or down more than 15,000 mt from 2024.  This was the lowest monthly volume since May/June 2020 (and otherwise it was the lowest since February 2019). 

• Compared to the previous year, July beef muscle cut exports were higher to Korea (+2,706 mt), South America (+448 mt), Caribbean + DR (+179 mt), and Africa (+28 mt), while exports were lower to China/HK (-11,316 mt), Mexico (-1,644 mt), Taiwan (-1,487 mt), ASEAN (-1,349 mt), Japan (-1,125 mt), Canada (-975 mt), Middle East (-508 mt), EU 27 + UK (-45 mt), Central America (-24 mt), and CIS (-6 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)
• After holding over 18,000 mt from March through May, exports to Japan slowed to 16,544 mt in June, down 10% from last year and the lowest since January.  Exports rebounded somewhat from the previous month to 17,277 mt in July, but that was down 6% from last year. 
• July beef muscle cut exports to Mexico dropped from over 8,000 mt in June to 7,751 mt in July, which was down 17% from last year’s large total and was the lowest monthly volume since May 2023.
• Exports to Canada have been lower than last year each month since March.  After rebounding to over 8,200 mt in June, exports slowed to 7,713 mt in July, which was down 11% from last year.
• 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. 
• July combined exports to China/HK dropped to just 4,202 mt, the lowest level since 2012.  Exports to China were just 911 mt, down 93% or -12,300 mt from last year.   Exports to HK were 3,291 mt, up 43% or +1,000 mt from last year and the highest since 2021.
• For the ASEAN region, exports to the Philippines held above 1,400 mt for the fourth consecutive month and were the highest since last October at 1,775 mt, up 42% from last year.  Exports to Singapore (520 mt, +18%) were the highest since last October, but exports were lower to Vietnam (363 mt, -15%).  No exports were reported to Indonesia for the third consecutive month compared to 1,655 mt reported last July.
• For the Caribbean, exports to the DR were (672 mt, +5%) were modestly higher than last year and shipments to the DR remain on a record pace this year.  Exports were also higher to the Bahamas (365 mt, +29%) for the 11^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.
• Exports to Guatemala are on a record pace, and July exports were 727 mt, up 23% from last year.  Exports were also higher to Honduras (186 mt, +39%) but slowed to Costa Rica (93 mt, -46%) and Panama (116 mt, -27%).
• For South America, exports to Chile reached 558 mt in July, up 78% from last year and the highest since 2022.
• For the Middle East, exports to the UAE were 94 mt in July, down 78% from last year.  Exports were also lower to Kuwait (86 mt, -68%) and Qatar (186 mt, -4%). 

July beef variety meat exports were the lowest since June 2020 at 19,523 mt, down 23% or -5,705 mt from last year. 

• In July, bvm exports were higher than last year to Japan (+142 mt) and Africa (+90 mt) but were lower to most main destinations including: Mexico (-3,464 mt), China/HK (-1,018 mt), Canada (-508 mt), South Korea (-398 mt), the Middle East (-297 mt), South America (-108 mt), ASEAN (-86 mt), Central America (-31 mt), and Caribbean + DR (-27 mt).
• BVM exports to Mexico slowed to 8,222 mt in July, the lowest level since September 2023. 
• Exports to Canada were 664 mt, down 43% from last year and were below year-ago levels for the third consecutive month.
• Exports to Japan rebounded to 3,771 mt in July, up 4% from last year and the highest since June 2024. 
• Exports to South Korea rebounded somewhat from the slowdown to under 500 mt in June and were 605 mt in July, but that was down  40% from last year.
• Combined bvm exports to China/HK slowed to just 934 mt in July, down 52% or down about 1,000 mt from last year.  This was the lowest monthly total since January 2021.  Exports to China were 199 mt, down 85% or -1,165 mt from last year, while exports to HK were 735 mt, up 25% or +150 mt from last year.  However, exports to HK were the lowest since February.
• July exports to the ASEAN were minimal as no exports were reported to Indonesia for the fourth consecutive month (and compared to 328 mt to Indonesia last July).  Exports to the Philippines were 146 mt, up significantly from just 27 mt last year, and exports to Vietnam were 130 mt, up from 30 mt last year.
• For South America, exports to Peru rebounded for the fourth consecutive month and were the highest since last December at 520 mt in July (but that was down 14% from last year). 
• BVM exports to Jamaica rebounded to 194 mt in July, up 10% from last year and the second highest monthly total so far this 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 mt, down 10% 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).  Exports to Cote d’Ivoire were 554 mt in July, up from no exports last July.  Exports to Morocco slowed to 190 mt in June, the lowest monthly volume since January, after averaging 437 mt per month from Feb through June.  Exports to Morocco are livers and volumes slowed in July as U.S. export volume was already approaching and the annual lower-duty TRQ for livers through its FTA with Morocco.

January – July beef muscle cut + variety meat exports totaled 691,800 mt, down 8% or -62,401 mt from 2024.  Exports were higher year-over-year to South Korea (+12,147 mt), Africa (+1,339 mt), Central America (+799 mt), South America (+593 mt), the EU 27 + UK (+464 mt), and CIS (+15 mt).  Exports were lower to China/HK (-41,993 mt), Mexico (-12,493 mt), ASEAN (-6,555 mt), Taiwan (-4,331 mt), Canada (-4,273 mt), Japan (-3,998 mt), Middle East (-2,856 mt), and Caribbean + DR (-1,146 mt).

July 2025 beef exports accounted for 10.0% of production and 11.9% when adding variety meats, compared to 11.6% and 14.0% in July 2024.  January – July 2025 beef exports accounted for 11.1% of production and 13.3% when adding variety meats, compared to 11.8% and 14.1% for January – July 2024. 

July 2025 beef export value per head of fed slaughter averaged $368.09/head, down 12% or -$50.31/head from $418.39/head in July 2024.  January – July 2025 beef export value per head of fed slaughter averaged $403.89/head, down 3.5% or -$14.49/head from $418.38/head for January – July 2024. 

Source: USMEF