Brazil Surpasses US as Top Global Beef Producer

By Ryan Hanrahan

Reuters’ Ana Mano and Peter Hobson reported last week that “Brazil surpassed the U.S. as the world’s top beef producer last year, according to market estimates, after the South American country beat output forecasts by hundreds of thousands of tons, easing a global supply squeeze and helping limit a surge in meat prices.”

“Brazil was already the biggest beef exporter, shipping meat worth almost $17 billion in 2025, according to government trade data released (last week),” Mano and Hobson reported. “Beef production numbers are not due until February, but analysts have recently raised their estimates. Farmers have been sending more animals to slaughter, cashing in on high export demand from countries including China and the U.S., where low supply has pushed beef prices to record levels.”

“Mauricio Nogueira, head of livestock consultancy Athenagro, said Brazilian beef production far surpassed his forecast in 2025. Output grew 4% for the year, where he had predicted a 2.7% drop,” Mano and Hobson reported. “The increase of around 800,000 tons was about equal to total annual exports of Argentina, the world’s No. 5 beef shipper.”

“Rabobank, which had expected Brazil’s beef production to decline in 2025, now sees 0.5% growth to 12.5 million tons carcass weight equivalent. The U.S. Department of Agriculture in December raised its estimate for Brazilian beef output by 450,000 tons to 12.35 million tons,” Mano and Hobson reported. “If the official numbers confirm market estimates, 2025 will be the first year that Brazil’s output will have surpassed U.S. production, which fell 3.9% to 11.8 million tons in 2025, according to USDA estimates, following years of drought.”