US beef consumption stable in 2024, pork and poultry expected to increase

Despite USDA’s projections for bleak meat consumption in 2023 and 2024, declines in U.S. beef consumption have been largely avoided. Even with modest declines in beef and pork for 2023, consumers in 2024 are forecasted to consume the same or more meat, according to USDA.

Beef

2022 U.S. beef consumption was 59.1 pounds per capita (Figure 1). You would have to return to the 2000s to find a higher rate. However, beef consumption was much higher back then, averaging 64.8 pounds per capita between 2000 and 2010.

Last summer, the USDA’s May 2023 WASDE estimated per capita beef consumption at 57.0 pounds in 2023 and 52.8 pounds in 2024. At those levels, 2023 would have been a 3.5% year-over-year decline, and 2024 would have been the lowest observation ever.

However, reality hasn’t been as dire. The final data for 2023 was 58.1 pounds per capita, just a 1.7% decline. For 2024, the current estimates are unchanged from the 2023 levels of 58.1 pounds.