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Post expects livestock numbers and beef production to continue their decrease through 2025. Beef production efficiency remains low, with the majority of beef derived from dairy and dual-purpose animals.

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

In 2023, Ukraine's cattle inventory and beef production remained on a three-decade-long downward trend. The decrease in consumer numbers and comparatively high beef prices resulted in a domestic consumption drop and increased exports of both live cattle for slaughter and beef.

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.

Ukraine’s cattle inventory is expected to remain on its historical downward trend in 2023 and 2024. Exports of live cattle and beef will remain strong as lower disposable incomes result in decreased domestic 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.

The U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement (USJTA) will enter Year 5 of agreement implementation on April 1, 2023, eliminating tariffs on multiple products with staging categories where tariffs were reduced in four annual increments beginning on April 1 of Year 2 (April 1, 2020).

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.