Brazilian beef export data: volumes, markets and the big exporters

We work in Brazil and we do not sell beef. There is no supplier being recommended here, and no figure is rounded to make a trade look better than it is.

The short answer

Brazil is the largest beef exporter in the world, at roughly 28 percent of global beef exports, according to USDA's Brazil Livestock and Products Annual, report BR2025-0024, published on 9 September 2025. USDA put beef exports at 3.638 million tonnes carcass weight equivalent for 2024, an actual figure, with an estimate of 3.85 million tonnes for 2025 and a forecast of 3.55 million tonnes for 2026, all from the same report.

China is the dominant destination by a wide margin, the United States a distant second. The exporters are led by three publicly listed groups, JBS, Marfrig and Minerva, which is useful for a buyer only in a narrow sense, explained at the end.

Reading the volume figures

The headline number for Brazilian beef comes in carcass weight equivalent, or CWE. That is a conversion back to the weight of the whole carcass, not the weight of the boxed product that actually leaves the port. It matters because CWE and shipped-product weight are different quantities, so a USDA CWE figure will not line up with a figure quoted from a Brazilian source that measures product weight. The gap is a unit difference, not a contradiction.

Year	Beef exports, CWE	Basis
2024	3.638 million tonnes	Actual
2025	3.85 million tonnes	USDA estimate
2026	3.55 million tonnes	USDA forecast

All three figures are from USDA FAS report BR2025-0024, published 9 September 2025. The 2025 and 2026 lines are an estimate and a forecast made at that date, not settled results, and a later USDA report will revise them.

Where the beef goes

For January to July 2025, USDA reported the destination pattern in the same annual report. The concentration is the striking part: close to half of everything went to one country.

Market	Volume, Jan to Jul 2025	Share and note
China	About 1.07 million tonnes CWE	Around 48 percent of exports, up 15 percent year on year
United States	About 260,000 tonnes	Around 13 percent, mostly frozen trimmings
Chile	Third by rank	Volume not stated in the figures used here
Mexico	About 94,000 tonnes CWE	Fourth by rank
Russia	Fifth by rank	Volume not stated in the figures used here

Across all destinations, Brazil exported beef to 134 countries in that period. The China share is worth holding onto as a risk fact rather than only a sales fact. When close to half your supplier country's exports depend on one buyer nation, a change in that single trading relationship moves prices and availability for everyone else in the market, including you.

Note the composition detail on the United States. The bulk of the US volume is frozen trimmings, which is lean beef that goes into further processing, not a like-for-like substitute for a chilled cut. Volume rank and product type are separate questions, and a top destination by tonnage can be a narrow one by product.

Brazil's share of the world

USDA's BR2025-0024 report describes Brazil as the largest beef exporter in the world and puts its share at roughly 28 percent of global beef exports. That is a share figure with a source and a year attached, which is the only kind worth quoting. A market-share number without a date is close to meaningless, because the denominator, world trade, moves every year.

What we do not publish

Brazil's own bodies, the exporter association ABIEC and the government trade database ComexStat, publish beef export figures too. We are not putting an ABIEC or ComexStat annual tonnage on this page, and the reason is worth stating rather than hiding. On the date we checked, the ABIEC home page did not render specific annual figures, showing placeholders instead, and we did not pull a clean number directly from ComexStat. A rough orientation of around 4 million tonnes exported out of roughly 12 million tonnes produced appeared, but not as a figure precise enough to publish.

So the position is this. The USDA CWE figures above are sourced and dated. The ABIEC and ComexStat annual numbers are not, in this pass, and quoting "ABIEC says X tonnes" without taking it directly from the source would be inventing precision we do not have. If you need the Brazilian-source figure, it exists, and it should be read straight off ABIEC or ComexStat, checking whether it is measured in product weight or carcass weight before comparing it to anything USDA reports.

The big three exporters

Three groups dominate, and all three are publicly listed, which is the only reason to name them on a page that recommends no supplier. Public listing carries a reporting duty, so these companies leave a verifiable financial trail that a private company does not.

Company	Scale, as reported	Public listing
JBS	Described as the world's largest meat processing company, with more than 250 production units, operations in 180 countries and around 280,000 employees. Revenue reported at US$86.2 billion for 2025.	NYSE ticker JBS, with the listing approved in May 2025, and B3 ticker JBSS32
Marfrig	Described as one of the largest meat companies in the world and the second-largest food company in Brazil after JBS, with 33 units in 22 countries. Revenue reported at US$24.5 billion for 2024.	B3 ticker MRFG3
Minerva Foods	The largest beef exporter in several South American countries, second-largest in Brazil and Uruguay, with 26 slaughtering and processing units across five countries and roughly 54,000 head per day.	B3 ticker BEEF3

Two cautions on that table. The revenue and scale figures come from secondary encyclopedic entries, with different reference years, 2025 for JBS, 2024 for Marfrig, and an older year for Minerva's financials, so for anything you rely on, take the current figure from the company's own filings. And listing status is a fact about disclosure, not a judgement about the quality of any single shipment. A public company can still ship a bad container.

What public status gives a buyer, and what it does not

The value of a supplier being listed on the NYSE or B3 is narrow and real. Listing means mandatory financial reporting, disclosure and audit, so there is a paper trail you can read that simply does not exist for a private exporter. That is a verification advantage.

It is not a guarantee about the meat. The container that reaches you is still verified the same way it would be for any supplier: the SIF number, the plant's place on your market's list, the health certificate and the inspection at loading. Scale and a stock ticker do not replace that check. They only tell you the company behind the offer is one you can look up.

Where this fits

The figures here set the context. The checks that decide whether a specific shipment reaches you are on the other two pages in this set: how to verify a Brazilian beef exporter for the practical steps, and SIF, DIPOA and market access for how each market's gate works. The company-level check that applies to any Brazilian seller is on verifying a Brazilian exporter, and the wider index is the Sourcing from Brazil hub.

Sources

• Beef export volumes in carcass weight equivalent, 3.638 million tonnes for 2024, 3.85 million tonnes estimated for 2025 and 3.55 million tonnes forecast for 2026; Brazil as the largest beef exporter at roughly 28 percent of world exports; and the January to July 2025 destination pattern with China at about 1.07 million tonnes CWE and around 48 percent, the United States at about 260,000 tonnes and around 13 percent as mostly frozen trimmings, Chile third, Mexico at about 94,000 tonnes CWE, Russia fifth, across 134 countries: USDA FAS GAIN, Brazil Livestock and Products Annual, report BR2025-0024, published 9 September 2025, primary.
• JBS, Marfrig and Minerva scale, revenue and public listing status, including the NYSE listing of JBS approved in May 2025 and the B3 tickers JBSS32, MRFG3 and BEEF3: secondary encyclopedic entries, with reference years 2025 for JBS, 2024 for Marfrig, and an earlier year for Minerva's financials. For any figure relied on, use the company's own filings.
• Not published here as fact: specific annual beef tonnage or revenue attributed to ABIEC or ComexStat, which did not render as precise figures on the date checked, and the rough orientation of around 4 million tonnes exported out of roughly 12 million tonnes produced, which is not precise enough to publish.

Facts checked 8 September 2026. USDA estimates and forecasts are revised on each reporting cycle, and company financials change yearly. Confirm any figure against the current USDA report or the company's own filing before relying on it.