Top exporters of beef worldwide in 2021

In 2021, the United States was the largest exporter of beef worldwide with exports amounting to a value of 9.3 billion U.S. dollars, followed by Brazil, with eight billion dollars.

The global meat industry

The meat industry was valued at approximately 838 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, and projected to increase to almost 1.2 trillion U.S. dollars in 2025. Poultry was the most produced type of meat worldwide in 2021, followed by pork. More than 135 million metric tons of poultry were produced worldwide, compared to some 113 million metric tons of pork. Beef and veal came in third place, with a production volume of 70.37 million metric tons in 2021. Asia Pacific accounted for share of more than half of the global meat market in 2020.

International trade

In 2022, Brazil and the United States were forecasted to be the top exporters of beef and veal, with an export volume of 2.6 million and 1.5 million metric tons of beef and veal, respectively. While China and the United States were the leading destinations for exports of Brazilian beef, Canada was by far the leading country of destination for U.S. prepared or preserved beef and veal exports, with an export volume of nearly 24 thousand metric tons in 2019.