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FAS/Tokyo forecasts cattle inventory expands in 2025 on greater cow beginning stocks and a moderate pace of slaughtering from 2024.

FAS/Tokyo projects Japan’s beef production in 2024 will be almost flat from 2023 because fewer cows will be culled now that milk production has dropped enough to match demand.

FAS/Tokyo forecasts a drop in 2024 cattle inventory on greater slaughtering of dairy cows, slower calf production, and no live cattle imports in 2023 and 2024.

In April 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) implemented a special measure under the Compound Feed Price Stabilization System to augment feed compensation payments to livestock, poultry, and swine producers.

The U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement (USJTA) entered Year 5 of the agreement implementation on April 1, 2023.

The 2023 U.S. Agricultural Export Yearbook provides a statistical summary of U.S. agricultural commodity exports to the world during the 2023 calendar year.

The 2022 U.S. Agricultural Export Yearbook provides a statistical summary of U.S. agricultural commodity exports to the world during the 2022 calendar year.

Cattle stocks decline in 2023 as farmers thin dairy herds to counter surplus production capacity. The resulting increase in domestic beef production will lower demand for imports in 2023.

Japan has a well-developed food retail market that demands high-quality, high-value agricultural and food products. Despite reduced economic activity during the COVID-19 pandemic, trade data show that agricultural imports have remained resilient.

U.S. beef exports to East Asia in 2022 are again on record pace after a record year in 2021. Despite economic uncertainties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, continued global supply chain challenges, and a competitive global beef market, U.S. beef exports to East Asia, both in value and volume, were outstanding in the first half of 2022.

FAS/Tokyo projects 2023 cattle stocks to expand to 3.995 million metric tons (MT) following increased production in 2021 and 2022. In the dairy sector, cow slaughter continues to increase in 2022 to adjust for excess capacity and overproduction of milk. FAS/Tokyo forecasts 2023 beef production to remain flat from 2022 at 490,000 MT.