Cattle & Beef - Statistics & Information | Economic Research Service

For the most current coverage of U.S. livestock outlook:

Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook (includes current situation and forecasts)
World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (all issues)

For current and historical inventory data, see the following USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reports:

Cattle (U.S. and State cattle inventories)
United States and Canadian Cattle
Meat Animal Production, Disposition, and Income Annual Summary

For current cattle and beef prices:

For production, supply, and distribution data for U.S. and major importing and exporting countries, including historic data and current year projections, see USDA, Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) database:

Production, Supply, and Distribution

Table 1. U.S. beef industry
Calendar year	Total beef disappearance¹ (billion pounds)	Retail equivalent of dissappearance² (billion pounds)	All fresh beef retail value³ (U.S. dollars)	Retail equivalent value of beef produced⁴ (billion U.S. dollars)	Value of cattle and calf production⁵ (billion U.S. dollars)	Cash receipts⁶ (billion U.S. dollars)
2004	27.7	19.4	3.61	70.2	34.9	47.4
2005	27.8	19.4	3.64	70.8	36.3	49.3
2006	28.1	19.7	3.61	71.2	35.5	49.1
2007	28.1	19.7	3.77	74.3	36.0	49.8
2008	27.2	19.0	3.97	75.5	35.6	48.4
2009	26.8	18.8	3.89	73.1	31.9	43.7
2010	26.4	18.5	4.02	74.2	36.9	51.2
2011	25.5	17.9	4.44	79.3	45.1	62.3
2012	25.7	18.0	4.69	84.6	48.1	66.1
2013	25.5	17.8	4.94	88.1	48.6	67.8
2014	24.7	17.3	5.60	96.8	60.1	81.1
2015	24.8	17.3	6.04	104.7	60.1	78.3
2016	25.7	18.0	5.74	103.2	48.6	63.7
2017	26.5	18.5	5.65	104.7	50.4	66.9
2018	26.8	18.7	5.69	106.6	49.2	67.2
2019	27.3	19.1	5.82	111.1	48.2	66.2
2020	27.6	19.3	6.39	123.2	48.4	63.3
2021	28.0	19.6	6.95	136.0	49.3	72.7
2022	28.2	19.7	7.30	143.9	61.9	86.3
2023	27.8	19.5	7.60	147.9	73.7	101.2
2024	28.7	20.1	8.01	161.1	83.1	112.1
¹Total amount of beef used in the domestic market on a carcass weight basis. ²Amount of the carcass estimated to cutout to retail cuts. This is 70 percent of the total disappearance. ³The value of a weighted average of an animal's retail meat cuts. ⁴Retail equivalent value of beef produced. ⁵Production includes total live weights of animals marketed, farm slaughter, and custom slaughter consumed on farms where produced, minus live weight of inshipments, with an adjustment for any increase or decrease in live weight of inventory. ⁶Receipts for cattle marketed for slaughter, including onfarm slaughter. Source: USDA, Economic Research Service calculations using USDA, World Agricultural Outlook Board, World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates; and USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service data.

Table 2. U.S. beef production and trade
Calendar year	Commercial beef production¹ (billion pounds)	Beef exports² (billion pounds)	Beef exports as percent of production (percent)	Value of beef exports (billion U.S. dollars)
2004	24.5	0.5	1.9	0.7
2005	24.7	0.7	2.8	1.1
2006	26.2	1.1	4.4	1.7
2007	26.4	1.4	5.4	2.2
2008	26.6	2.0	7.5	3.1
2009	26.0	1.9	7.5	3.0
2010	26.3	2.3	8.7	3.9
2011	26.2	2.8	10.6	5.1
2012	25.9	2.5	9.5	5.2
2013	25.7	2.6	10.1	5.8
2014	24.2	2.6	10.6	6.7
2015	23.7	2.3	9.6	5.8
2016	25.2	2.6	10.1	5.8
2017	26.2	2.9	10.9	6.7
2018	26.9	3.2	11.8	7.8
2019	27.2	3.0	11.1	7.5
2020	27.2	3.0	10.9	7.1
2021	27.9	3.4	12.3	9.9
2022	28.3	3.5	12.5	10.9
2023	27.0	3.0	11.3	9.4
2024	27.0	3.0	11.1	9.9
¹Commercial production on a carcass weight basis. ²Carcass weight basis. Source: USDA, Economic Research Service calculations using USDA, World Agricultural Outlook Board, World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.

Table 3a. North American total slaughter and inventories
Calendar year	Total slaughter, United States (million head)	Total slaughter, Canada (million head)	Total slaughter, Mexico (million head)	All cattle and calves inventory, United States* (million head)	All cattle and calves inventory, Canada* (million head)	All cattle and calves inventory, Mexico* (million head)
2004	33.8	4.5	6.8	94.4	14.6	25.2
2005	33.3	4.4	6.2	95.0	14.9	24.3
2006	34.6	4.0	5.5	96.3	14.7	23.7
2007	35.2	3.8	5.7	96.6	14.1	23.3
2008	35.5	3.8	5.8	96.0	13.8	22.9
2009	34.5	3.7	5.9	94.7	13.0	22.7
2010	35.3	3.7	6.1	94.1	12.7	22.2
2011	35.1	3.4	6.3	92.9	12.2	21.5
2012	33.9	3.1	6.4	91.2	12.2	20.1
2013	33.4	3.1	6.2	90.1	12.2	18.5
2014	30.9	3.2	6.0	88.2	12.1	17.8
2015	29.3	2.9	6.0	89.2	11.6	17.1
2016	31.2	3.1	6.0	91.9	11.6	16.6
2017	32.8	3.3	6.1	93.6	11.5	16.5
2018	33.7	3.5	6.2	94.3	11.7	16.6
2019	34.3	3.6	6.3	94.7	11.7	16.7
2020	33.4	3.5	6.3	93.8	11.5	16.9
2021	34.4	3.7	6.7	93.6	11.5	17.0
2022	34.8	3.7	6.8	91.8	11.5	17.3
2023	33.3	3.6	6.9	88.8	11.2	17.8
2024	32.2	3.4	7.1	87.2	11.0	17.8
* = Inventory on January 1. Source: USDA, Economic Research Service calculations using USDA, Foreign Agricultural Service data; and USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service data.

Table 3b. U.S. beef and veal imports from North America
Calendar year	Total imports (billion pounds)	Imports from Canada¹ (billion pounds)	Imports from Mexico (billion pounds)	Share from Canada (percent)	Share from Mexico (percent)	Imports from North America as share of U.S. beef consumption (percent)
2004	3.679	1.062	0.019	28.9	0.5	3.9
2005	3.599	1.092	0.027	30.4	0.7	4.0
2006	3.085	0.844	0.041	27.4	1.3	3.1
2007	3.052	0.789	0.050	25.9	1.6	3.0
2008	2.538	0.841	0.044	33.1	1.7	3.3
2009	2.626	0.812	0.066	30.9	2.5	3.3
2010	2.298	0.861	0.107	37.5	4.7	3.7
2011	2.057	0.689	0.155	33.5	7.5	3.3
2012	2.220	0.537	0.242	24.2	10.9	3.0
2013	2.250	0.538	0.252	23.9	11.2	3.1
2014	2.947	0.602	0.310	20.4	10.5	3.7
2015	3.368	0.628	0.392	18.7	11.6	4.1
2016	3.012	0.718	0.493	23.8	16.4	4.7
2017	2.993	0.741	0.574	24.8	19.2	5.0
2018	2.998	0.792	0.508	26.4	17.0	4.9
2019	3.058	0.848	0.580	27.7	19.0	5.2
2020	3.339	0.825	0.651	24.7	19.5	5.4
2021	3.345	0.942	0.675	28.2	20.2	5.8
2022	3.390	0.971	0.740	28.6	21.8	6.1
2023	3.725	1.018	0.648	27.3	17.4	6.0
2024	4.635	1.013	0.597	21.9	12.9	5.6
¹Some products imported from Canada could be made from animals originally imported from the United States. Source: USDA, Economic Research Service calculations using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.

Table 3c. U.S. cattle imports from North America
Calendar year	Total cattle imports (million head)	Imports from Mexico (million head)	Imports from Canada¹ (million head)	Share from Canada (percent)
2004	1.371	1.370	0.000*	< 0.1
2005	1.816	1.256	0.559	31
2006	2.289	1.257	1.032	45
2007	2.495	1.090	1.405	56
2008	2.284	0.703	1.581	69
2009	2.002	0.941	1.061	53
2010	2.284	1.221	1.063	47
2011	2.107	1.421	0.686	33
2012	2.283	1.468	0.815	36
2013	2.033	0.989	1.044	51
2014	2.358	1.116	1.243	53
2015	1.984	1.154	0.830	42
2016	1.708	0.943	0.765	45
2017	1.807	1.164	0.642	36
2018	1.899	1.268	0.631	33
2019	2.043	1.320	0.723	35
2020	2.114	1.441	0.673	32
2021	1.775	1.128	0.647	36
2022	1.628	0.871	0.757	47
2023	1.981	1.247	0.734	37
2024	2.043	1.249	0.793	39
*=135 head. ¹Cattle shipments from Canada to the United States may include animals transshipped through Canada from Hawaii or Alaska. Source: USDA, Economic Research Service calculations using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.

Table 4a. Top U.S. beef export markets, by volume
Calendar year	Japan (million pounds)	South Korea (million pounds)	Mexico (million pounds)	Canada (million pounds)	China (million pounds)
2004	12	1	333	56	0
2005	17	1	464	106	5
2006	52	1	660	239	8
2007	159	78	586	339	10
2008	231	152	759	389	4
2009	274	141	628	363	5
2010	351	277	500	391	9
2011	456	380	488	500	5
2012	449	305	352	467	14
2013	671	253	403	467	17
2014	663	301	435	364	8
2015	540	319	363	324	2
2016	655	459	395	308	0
2017	826	473	419	309	9
2018	886	638	449	300	22
2019	799	684	424	268	32
2020	827	667	320	286	119
2021	818	778	316	279	540
2022	816	812	283	274	626
2023	639	672	318	270	503
2024	642	630	343	252	475
Note: Carcass weight basis. Source: USDA, Economic Research Service calculations using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.

Table 4b. Top U.S. beef export markets, by value
Calendar year	Japan (million dollars)	South Korea (million dollars)	Mexico (million dollars)	Canada (million dollars)	China (million dollars)
2004	31	2	393	131	0
2005	50	3	585	232	13
2006	105	4	787	459	23
2007	294	124	740	628	42
2008	439	291	898	739	15
2009	495	215	773	672	22
2010	662	504	673	784	44
2011	873	661	793	1,106	20
2012	1,000	548	649	1,270	61
2013	1,283	567	743	1,294	72
2014	1,421	825	946	1,163	36
2015	1,084	778	855	1,038	8
2016	1,213	1,031	765	897	0
2017	1,607	1,172	794	929	33
2018	1,844	1,695	873	887	62
2019	1,658	1,797	871	804	85
2020	1,653	1,680	670	863	301
2021	1,947	2,347	840	948	1,551
2022	1,886	2,691	756	1,016	2,020
2023	1,444	2,077	942	1,075	1,541
2024	1,509	2,187	1,093	1,112	1,522
Source: USDA, Economic Research Service calculations using data from U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.