AUSTIN, Texas — Like beef producers, processors and marketers overall, stakeholders in the Certified Angus Beef brand in the past year have weathered a persistently uncertain market characterized by record-high cattle and beef prices, shifting supply dynamics, and global tariff disruption.

There’s also the looming question of at what price point will consumers become unwilling or unable to pay any more for beef and demand declines.

During his state of the brand presentation at the Certified Angus Beef brand’s Beef Bash 2025 conference Sept. 24-26 in Austin, CAB President John Stika told the crowd that, “"In spite of the challenges and in spite of that question, I couldn't be more positive about the outcome and more optimistic about the future of Certified Angus Beef because I’m thrilled to share that 2025 will be among the strongest years ever for Certified Angus Beef.”

Beef Bash 2025 weighed in as Certified Angus Beef’s largest event to date, Stika told the crowd during the Sept. 25 opening session, with more than 800 registered attendees — 300 of whom were first-time attendees — representing beef value chain brand partners from 16 countries in addition to the US and Canada.

The brand's global sales in the past year totaled more than 1.23 billion pounds, Stika said, adding that 2025 has been CAB's fourth consecutive year of near-record sales and included year-over-year sales increases in seven out of the past 12 months. Strong overall sales, however, were marked by peaks and valleys, he said, with the spring sales period returning their best sales in the brand's 47 years while February 2025 sales were down by nearly 16 million pounds (the brand's steepest non-Pandemic or BSE-related sales decline ever).

Retail

Retail grocery sales represented 43% of the Certified Angus Beef brands overall sales, coming in at 527.8 million pounds, Stika said, adding that nine out of the brand’s top 10 largest volume retail chains experienced growth in their sales. Nearly 150 newly licensed stores were added to the brand's distribution and sales network in the past 12 months. CAB-branded ground beef products saw a 6% increase in retail sales, while Certified Angus Beef Prime products saw record retail sales of 22.3 million pounds along with a 5.6% sales growth rate.

"We have a tremendous amount of momentum churning at retail, and we look forward to building on that business in the year ahead," he said.

Foodservice

Foodservice sales for the brand hit 413 million pounds for fiscal 2025, Stika said, down by 0.7% but ranking as CAB products’ fourth-best year ever at foodservice. Sales of value-added products for foodservice (up 12.8%) and CAB prime products (up 9.4%) powered sales, with March 2025 turning in a record 40.3 million pounds sold for the brand in the foodservice category.

International sales

CAB’s export sales for fiscal 2025 were 179.5 million pounds, down 8.8%, Stika said. Sales rose in 40 of 76 countries, however, with these 10 countries being the top volume markets:

1. Canada
2. South Korea
3. Mexico
4. Japan
5. Hong Kong
6. Dominican Republic
7. Taiwan
8. Puerto Rico
9. Colombia
10. United Arab Emirates

Prime beef

Prime beef products enjoyed a 20.6% growth rate in international sales, Stika said. In fact, prime beef products boasted all-time high sales in every division at 55 million pounds sold, up 8.5%. CAB prime deli meats posted a whopping 64% increase in sales.

Value-added products

Value-added products generated record sales of 47.9 million pounds, an increase of 5.5%, with these products leading sales growth:

• fully cooked smoke brisket
• seasoned ground beef
• shaved steak
• corned beef (raw)
• deli corned beef
• consumer packaged frozen patties
• franks
• smoked beef
• cooked prime rib
• ingredients (demi-glaze)

The brand’s grass-fed products saw their sales grow by 14.7%, Stika said.

Beef supply

Like the overall beef market, cattle raised under Certified Angus Beef programs are experiencing tight supplies, Stika said. The 2025 brand supply of cattle stood at 5.77 million head, down 2,9% from the previous year’s record high.

"Your success to grow demand for Certified Angus Beef for years now has sent a very clear and very loud economic signal back to the supply chain that has had an extremely positive influence on the genetics, the management and the marketing strategies of hundreds of thousands upon thousands of Angus producers and cattle feeders across North America, where today's beef production is more focused than ever on quality and delivering Certified Angus Beef to the market," Stika said.