The role of China in global beef markets has changed rapidly in the past two decades.
China, including Hong Kong, was not a player in global beef markets at all as little as 15 years ago, but has risen rapidly to become the largest beef importer over the last decade (Figure 1).
For many years, China was a large beef-producing and -consuming country but had almost no presence in global beef markets. Starting about 2013, rising beef consumption in China began to exceed domestic beef production, leading for the first time to significant beef imports.
Although per capita beef consumption in China remains relatively low, roughly 13 pounds compared to 59 lbs. in the U.S., the large population means that small increases in beef consumption represent large amounts of beef in total. As a result, China/Hong Kong quickly became the largest beef-importing country, surpassing the U.S. by 2017 (Figure 2). As recently as 2022, China/Hong Kong accounted for over 35% of global beef imports.
Part of the growth in beef imports in China/Hong Kong included increased U.S. beef exports to China. Hong Kong was a significant beef export market in the 2010s, representing as much as 16% of total U.S. beef exports and ranking third among export markets. It was generally recognized that a portion of exports to Hong Kong were subsequently transshipped into China. After the U.S. achieved official access to China, beef exports began to grow, with exports to Hong Kong decreasing as expected (Figure 3). For this reason, data from China and Hong Kong are combined, although still reported separately.
In 2025, with tariffs in place and U.S. access to China revoked, exports to China/Hong Kong decreased sharply, although beef exports to Hong Kong increased to slightly offset the total decrease (due to different political responses in Hong Kong). The China/Hong Kong share of U.S. beef exports dropped from 18.7% (third largest) to 10.4% of total beef exports, placing it in fourth place among beef export destinations (Figure 4).
While China/Hong Kong quickly grew to be a major U.S. beef export market after 2020, the U.S. share of total China/Hong Kong beef imports has been relatively small. The U.S. share of total beef imports in China/Hong Kong peaked at 8.8% in 2022 and fell to 3.7% in 2025. There is no doubt that China/Hong Kong generally represents significant beef export potential for the U.S. in the absence of political barriers.
Figure 4 shows the dramatic loss of China/Hong Kong beef exports in 2025 relative to other major beef export markets. Decreased beef exports to China/Hong Kong accounted for 68% of the total decrease in U.S. beef exports in 2025. The impact of this loss in the U.S. beef market was largely unrecognized simply because the domestic U.S. market was so strong and trending higher. Under different market circumstances, the impact would be much more evident. Part of the future prospects for herd rebuilding and increased beef production in the U.S. will depend on maintaining and building robust beef export markets and China/Hong Kong will certainly be a key component. — Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension livestock marketing specialist
