Beef (cattle meat): production by country

Beef (cattle meat): the total weight produced in each country in a year, in tonnes. Which countries produce the most?

#1 United States (12.3M t), #2 Brazil (10.2M t), #3 China (7.01M t). The last place is Seychelles (17.1 t).

How to read this number

The total weight, in tonnes, of the crop or product harvested or produced in the country in a year, as reported to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Item: Beef (cattle meat). Meat is counted with the bone (carcass weight), not as boneless meat.

Only countries with a production above zero are listed. Countries that grow or make none, or that have no FAO figure, are not ranked (they are not counted as zero). Many figures, especially for small countries, are estimated by the FAO, so small differences between countries are not reliable. Weather and harvests change the amounts from year to year.

  • Countries listed: 181 (of 193)
  • Data years: 2023–2024 (differs by country)
  • 180 countries use 2024 data

Map

Ranking table

Sorted from the highest value

RankCountryBeef (cattle meat): productionYearBar
1 United States 12,289,768 t 2024
2 Brazil 10,237,584 t 2024
3 China 7,011,810 t 2024
4 Argentina 3,178,044 t 2024
5 Australia 2,589,767 t 2024
6 Mexico 2,253,615 t 2024
7 Russia 1,692,988 t 2024
8 Türkiye 1,483,042 t 2024
9 Pakistan 1,366,891 t 2024
10 France 1,298,540 t 2024
11 Canada 1,291,344 t 2024
12 Uzbekistan 1,161,390 t 2024
13 South Africa 1,101,970 t 2024
14 Germany 1,015,350 t 2024
15 United Kingdom 934,300 t 2024
16 Zimbabwe 755,211 t 2024
17 New Zealand 741,844 t 2024
18 Colombia 731,625 t 2024
19 Spain 718,450 t 2024
20 Tanzania 666,227 t 2024
21 Italy 659,120 t 2024
22 Poland 637,490 t 2024
23 Ireland 602,600 t 2024
24 Indonesia 597,754 t 2024
25 Chad 578,029 t 2024
26 Uruguay 577,893 t 2024
27 Japan 461,905 t 2024
28 Netherlands 433,330 t 2024
29 Kazakhstan 429,336 t 2024
30 Ethiopia 428,612 t 2024
31 Paraguay 427,140 t 2024
32 Belarus 399,000 t 2024
33 Venezuela 379,169 t 2024
34 South Korea 370,000 t 2024
35 Sudan 366,282 t 2024
36 Bolivia 349,417 t 2024
37 Egypt 321,031 t 2024
38 Nigeria 317,049 t 2024
39 Tajikistan 313,639 t 2024
40 Guatemala 312,602 t 2024
41 Vietnam 270,000 t 2024
42 Kenya 260,083 t 2024
43 Morocco 254,200 t 2024
44 Belgium 249,440 t 2024
45 Ukraine 244,500 t 2024
46 Ecuador 242,011 t 2024
47 Uganda 237,543 t 2024
48 Iran 235,157 t 2024
49 Zambia 221,927 t 2024
50 Turkmenistan 209,347 t 2024
51 Bangladesh 204,685 t 2024
52 Peru 203,991 t 2024
53 Austria 203,470 t 2024
54 Chile 197,958 t 2024
55 Nicaragua 152,223 t 2023
56 Switzerland 144,057 t 2024
57 Sweden 140,970 t 2024
58 Azerbaijan 140,473 t 2024
59 Burkina Faso 136,146 t 2024
60 Algeria 135,000 t 2024
61 South Sudan 132,346 t 2024
62 Cameroon 127,281 t 2024
63 Kyrgyzstan 125,469 t 2024
64 Israel 120,244 t 2024
65 Philippines 116,666 t 2024
66 Denmark 116,400 t 2024
67 Thailand 112,425 t 2024
68 Angola 110,104 t 2024
69 Myanmar 110,000 t 2024
70 Mongolia 107,749 t 2024
71 Central African Republic 103,630 t 2024
72 Portugal 101,770 t 2024
73 Costa Rica 94,191 t 2024
74 Finland 86,510 t 2024
75 Norway 86,090 t 2024
76 Yemen 86,025 t 2024
77 Senegal 79,496 t 2024
78 Romania 75,780 t 2024
79 Serbia 75,048 t 2024
80 Guinea 74,013 t 2024
81 Malawi 73,662 t 2024
82 Panama 71,678 t 2024
83 Czechia 71,040 t 2024
84 Dominican Republic 67,693 t 2024
85 Mali 67,217 t 2024
86 Niger 65,289 t 2024
87 Honduras 65,000 t 2024
88 Botswana 64,889 t 2024
89 Afghanistan 61,421 t 2024
90 Cuba 60,209 t 2024
91 Armenia 60,060 t 2024
92 Cambodia 57,964 t 2024
93 Somalia 55,481 t 2024
94 Haiti 49,944 t 2024
95 Jordan 49,530 t 2024
96 Benin 47,794 t 2024
97 Laos 47,505 t 2024
98 Lithuania 44,760 t 2024
99 Saudi Arabia 43,000 t 2024
100 Croatia 42,480 t 2024
101 Rwanda 42,094 t 2024
102 Tunisia 41,793 t 2024
103 Syria 41,649 t 2024
104 Malaysia 39,498 t 2024
105 Lebanon 39,194 t 2024
106 Côte d’Ivoire 37,009 t 2024
107 Namibia 35,743 t 2024
108 Iraq 34,678 t 2024
109 Greece 32,440 t 2024
110 Slovenia 31,940 t 2024
111 Ghana 31,833 t 2024
112 Mauritania 31,134 t 2024
113 Democratic Republic of the Congo 27,812 t 2024
114 Georgia 26,700 t 2024
115 Albania 25,996 t 2024
116 Eritrea 25,585 t 2024
117 Madagascar 24,979 t 2024
118 Hungary 23,810 t 2024
119 United Arab Emirates 22,005 t 2024
120 Mozambique 21,335 t 2024
121 Sri Lanka 20,900 t 2024
122 North Korea 20,349 t 2024
123 Bulgaria 18,820 t 2024
124 Eswatini 17,957 t 2024
125 Burundi 16,871 t 2024
126 Latvia 16,820 t 2024
127 El Salvador 16,415 t 2024
128 Oman 16,138 t 2024
129 Sierra Leone 11,277 t 2024
130 Slovakia 10,060 t 2024
131 Bosnia & Herzegovina 9,792 t 2024
132 Luxembourg 9,430 t 2024
133 Togo 8,800 t 2024
134 Guinea-Bissau 7,957 t 2024
135 Estonia 7,720 t 2024
136 Jamaica 7,407 t 2024
137 Montenegro 6,700 t 2024
138 Djibouti 6,472 t 2024
139 Libya 6,219 t 2024
140 Cyprus 5,640 t 2024
141 Republic of the Congo 5,383 t 2024
142 Iceland 4,860 t 2024
143 Fiji 4,160 t 2024
144 North Macedonia 4,135 t 2024
145 Guyana 3,256 t 2024
146 Gambia 2,577 t 2024
147 Papua New Guinea 2,296 t 2024
148 Moldova 2,261 t 2024
149 Belize 2,143 t 2024
150 Mauritius 2,090 t 2024
151 Vanuatu 2,022 t 2024
152 Kuwait 1,859 t 2024
153 Suriname 1,488 t 2024
154 Bhutan 1,420 t 2024
155 Samoa 1,293 t 2024
156 Timor-Leste 1,275 t 2024
157 Comoros 1,226 t 2024
158 Malta 1,150 t 2024
159 Lesotho 1,042 t 2024
160 Trinidad & Tobago 1,020 t 2024
161 Brunei 986 t 2024
162 Liberia 969 t 2024
163 Qatar 914 t 2024
164 Bahrain 776 t 2024
165 Solomon Islands 772 t 2024
166 Gabon 755 t 2024
167 Cape Verde 702 t 2024
168 Dominica 544 t 2024
169 São Tomé & Príncipe 420 t 2024
170 St. Lucia 404 t 2024
171 Tonga 346 t 2024
172 Micronesia 252 t 2024
173 Grenada 191 t 2024
174 St. Vincent & Grenadines 155 t 2024
175 Barbados 146 t 2024
176 Antigua & Barbuda 73 t 2024
177 Equatorial Guinea 48 t 2024
178 St. Kitts & Nevis 43 t 2024
179 Singapore 34 t 2024
180 Bahamas 18 t 2024
181 Seychelles 17 t 2024

Each value is the latest year available for that country (see the Year column), so the years can differ from country to country.

Data is available for 181 of 193 countries. The rest are not listed.

Source: FAO. 2025. FAOSTAT: Crops and livestock products. Accessed on 04 November 2026. https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QCL Licence: CC-BY-4.0. Processed by this site. fao.org/faostat

How it has changed (1961–2024)

See how beef (cattle meat) production has changed across the world’s countries from 1961 to 2024.

  • The country ranked first is United States in both 1961 and 2024. This is the first place among today’s countries: regions that later split, such as the former Soviet Union, have no values from before the split.
  • Japan’s beef (cattle meat) production went from 143K t in 1961 to 462K t in 2024 (up 319K t).
  • Japan ranked #23 of 153 countries in 1961 and #27 of 180 in 2024. The number of countries differs between the years, so the ranks are not directly comparable.
Beef (cattle meat) production: Japan and the top 5 countries in 2024From 1961 to 2024. Last values: United States 12.3M t, Brazil 10.2M t, China 7.01M t, Argentina 3.18M t, Australia 2.59M t, Japan 462K t.05M10M15M1961197019801990200020102024United StatesUnited StatesBrazilBrazilChinaChinaArgentinaArgentinaAustraliaAustraliaJapanJapan
Key years for Japan and the leading countries in 2024
Country19611970198019902000201020202024
United States7.43M t10.1M t10M t10.5M t12M t11.8M t12.4M t12.3M t
Brazil1.37M t1.85M t2.85M t4.12M t6.58M t6.98M t7.82M t10.2M t
China43K t122K t235K t1.08M t4.62M t5.66M t6.05M t7.01M t
Argentina2.15M t2.62M t2.84M t3.01M t2.72M t2.63M t3.17M t3.18M t
Australia643K t1.01M t1.56M t1.68M t1.99M t2.13M t2.13M t2.59M t
Japan143K t278K t418K t549K t530K t515K t477K t462K t
Countries with data153153153153177179181180

See the full history, year by year

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  • The color bar (legend) under the map shows how colors match values. Point at a country to see its number.
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