Agriculture and Environment: Commodities

Table of Facts : Beef (Bos species)

Production

Area Under Cultivation - 3,459.8 million ha

• Herd - 1,346.4 million (animals)
• Meat - 56.5 million MT
• Slaughter - 277.8 million (animals)
• Milk - 488.2 million MT

Average Productivity - 21 kg/ha (meat), 203 kg/animal (carcass), 21% (slaughter/herd)
Producer Price - $1,309 per MT (meat)
Producer value at Slaughter- $73,958 million (meat)

International Trade
Share of World Production - 23% (meat)

Exports

• Meat - 13.1 million MT
• Hides - 2.0 million MT

Average Price

• Meat - $2,322 per MT
• Hides - $1,675 per MT

Value

• Meat - $30,434 million
• Hides - $3,325 million

Principal Producing Countries/Blocs
(by weight)
United States, European Union, Brazil, China, Argentina, Australia, Russia, India

Principal Exporting Countries/Blocs
Boneless: Australia, United States, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada
Bone in: Germany, France, United States, Netherlands, Ukraine

Principal Importing Countries/Blocs
Boneless: United States, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Egypt, South Korea, Germany
Bone in: Italy, Russia, France, South Korea, United States, Greece

Major Environmental Impacts

• Habitat conversion
• Overgrazing
• Feedlot pollution
• Production of feed grains

Potential to Improve

• Good
• Organic guidelines exist
• Natural beef certification exists
• Grass-fed beef can reduce pressure for grain-fed beef
• Better practices known for some areas
  

Source: FAO 2002. All data for 2000.