Market Report Overview

In 2023, the Wagyu Beef market was valued at USD 14,892.11 Million and is expected to reach USD 25,727.15 Million at the CAGR of 6.2% during 2024-2032.

Wagyu beef products including crossbreeding, wagyu & kobe, and 100% fullblood wagyu help in maintaining overall health and are considered very healthy across the globe. Companies manufacturing and exporting wagyu beef products have faced disruptions in R&D, production, and supply chain during enforced lockdown situation across the globe. Due to ban on national and international import-export, demand for wagyu beef in the importing states rose tremendously creating stockpile of orders. After lockdown was lifted, manufacturing units resumed working with 90%–100% capacity to meet huge demand but till then ban on import-export had already disturbed entire supply chain.

Currently, increased workload on wagyu beef products supply chain has increased product prices to some extent. As per our analysis, it will take about 6 more months to normalize the overall products supply chain. Filling up the demand-supply gap in the global wagyu beef market still remains a challenge for the key market players. Wagyu beef products manufacturers are looking forward to building highly effective manufacturing and supply chain strategies to meet the demand-supply gap worldwide.

Market Snapshot

Drivers

• Rapidly Flourishing Luxury Hospitality Sector

While retail consumer market is the mainstay of the mass meat market and especially beef brands, the wagyu beef brands largely target and thrive on the back of institutional customers like hotels, hotel chains, and hi-end restaurant brands. According to our analysis, about 85% of the sales of wagyu beef is towards institutional B2B customers. Many wagyu beef companies have partnered with the hotel groups and restaurant chains, and speciality restaurants with presence across airports, premium malls, superstores, and metro cities. Wagyu beef companies are also now present in retail segment across various B2C distribution channels. The sales strategy is currently highly B2B and restaurant food chain inspired but companies are also now targeting high-end superstores and high-end online retail platforms. Currently, top four segments across developing and emerging countries are hotel chains, restaurants, airports, and online retail.

The guests in a luxury hotel or a high-end fine diner are sophisticated enough and informed about the benefits of wagyu beef over the regular beef categories, and therefore they are the natural customer base for premium wagyu beef. As middle class population is realising the benefits of premium wagyu beef and its health benefits, their perspective is slowly but surely shifting and instead of looking at wagyu beef as a premium meat people are now viewing it as an essential for good health. When the experience is clubbed with fine dining it is impacting the interest of consumers towards normal meat and beef options.

• The Shift of Focus towards Health Benefits of Eating Wagyu Beef across the Globe

Focus towards health benefits is the most rapidly shifted trend in the last decade. Health benefits of eating wagyu beef has been increasingly & effectively traced and documented to spread a message for overall shift of focus towards good health across the globe. Increasing severity of the chronic and infectious E. coli bacterial diseases, cancers, and disorders related to lack of vitamin A & E; fatty acids; and omega-3s & omega-6s, has fetched attention of wagyu beef manufacturers. Most important factor driving the growth of the global wagyu beef market is companies launching new and advanced wagyu beef types and products in the worldwide market, which has increased demand for premium wagyu beef. Moreover, around the world, consumer demand for wagyu beef is surging as more and more number of people are adopting premium wagyu beef.

Use of healthy wagyu beef is one of the most effective ways to maintain good health, which in turn has boomed the global wagyu beef market. Many players focusing on in depth R&D and launch of new improved products for wagyu beef is expected to further support the global wagyu beef market.

Restraint

• Low Awareness and Penetration of Wagyu beef in Developing Countries

Market in emerging and developing countries including India, France, Spain, New Zealand, Singapore, Argentina, Thailand, Brazil, South Africa, and others generating comparatively low GDP is always hard to crack and expand the sales into, due to ever changing dynamics and consumer demands. Performance of wagyu beef importing companies in these countries is always critical, depending upon change of trade policies and changing political environment. Wagyu beef manufacturers & importers situated in these countries suffer with lack of sales due to lack of investment in marketing and supply chains and highly competitive nature of regional markets. Lack of investments in marketing and high competition level results in low awareness of health benefits and penetration of wagyu beef in these countries.

Lack of government support in most of the emerging and developing countries due to consideration of health as an underlying and ignored condition, is one of the major factors restraining the global wagyu beef market in the emerging regions

Market Segmentation

The global wagyu beef market is segmented in the basis of breed, grade, cut type, distribution channel and regions.

On the basis breed, the market is segmented into Japanese breed, Australian breed, and others. Japanese breed segment holds the major share in the global wagyu beef market. Japanese breed holds the share of over 60% in 2023, whereas Australian breed is expected to have the fastest growing segment during the forecast period.

Based on distribution channel, the market is segmented into store-based retail, hypermarkets and supermarkets, restaurants & food chain, and online. Store-based retail dominates the global wagyu beef market whereas, hypermarkets and supermarkets expected to have the fastest growth.

The global retail food market for Wagyu beef and products is highly sophisticated and is very fragmented, with almost 70% of the store-based retail market occupied by many strong regional players. Knowing where food comes from is highly important for Japanese, Australian, and U.S. Wagyu consumers, as these countries heavily rely on imports. With its mandatory ‘country of origin’ (COO) labelling regulation, the store-based retail sector is where consumers have a direct interface with global suppliers, and hence a critically important space for Australia to showcase quality underpinned by product integrity. Increasing number of store-based retail across the globe and large number of such stores offering various brands of Wagyu beef at discounted prices and in bundle offers, are the major factors driving the store-based retail segment. Store-based retail is getting advanced to cater the increasing need of new generation people and health conscious consumers, boosting the growth of store-based retail segment.

In store-based retail, a consumer can get all type product offerings by several brands. Depending on choices for Wagyu beef, consumer prefer the brand and its country of origin. Consumer who stays loyal to one brand of Wagyu beef prefer visiting store-based retail which serves only one brands and consumers who like to explore various options, prefer going to independently established store-based retails. Either way, revenue for the store-based retail is being generated, which is fueling store-based retail segment.

Beef Supply, Markets and Economics in Japan

In 2017, 2.5 million cattle were raised for beef production in Japan. Approximately 1.6 million of these were Japanese Black cattle (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 21,000 were Japanese Brown cattle, and 25,000 were other Wagyu breeds. A further 834,700 non-Wagyu breed cattle were used for beef production (Holstein 313,000, F1 Wagyu-cross 521,600, and others 100). The number of farms in Japan raising beef cattle is slowly declining. In 2017, there were 50,100 farmers producing beef, with each farmer raising 50 cattle on average. A total of 35.6% of cattle were raised on Kyushu (the main southern island) and 20.7% on Hokkaido (the main northern island). The mean body and carcass weights of Japanese Black cattle at slaughter were 756 kg and 476 kg, respectively, at 29.2 months of age, while the mean daily weight gain to slaughter was 0.77 kg. Recently, the percentage of intramuscular fat in longissimus muscle from Japanese Black cattle has averaged more than 30%.

In 2017, the mean price of calves (9.1 months of age on average) at market was 653,827 yen (around 6,226 USD), while the mean price of carcasses in the beef market was 1,313,694 yen (around 12,511 USD). The average total cost of production per carcass was 1,054,763 yen (around 10,045 USD). In 2016, Japan imported 526,000 tons of beef, mainly from the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, while 324,000 tons of beef were produced in Japan, meaning that Japan imported around 62% of its beef requirements. Local beef production yielded revenue of about 13,552 million yen (129 million USD) (1,909 USD/ton) in 2016. In recent years, Japan has exported beef to several foreign countries such as the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Macau, Mexico, New Zealand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, the Philippines, and, since 2014, the EU (Table 3). However, Japanese Wagyu beef is sold at higher prices than local beef in foreign country.

Asia Pacific to Dominate the Market

Regionally, the global wagyu beef market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America and the Middle East & Africa. Wagyu beef market across the globe is significantly growing due to various benefits including protein rich and premium red meat, health benefits, and benefits over disease control. Moreover, wagyu beef help in reducing the risk of several chronic diseases including cardiac, diseases, diabetes, and cancer. Health-conscious people are adopting wagyu beef rapidly as it contains various nutrients including protein, folate, zinc, and fiber. These nutrients and especially fiber maintains sound health. Rising consumer population looking for healthy meat options is expected to drive the global wagyu beef market.

The Asia Pacific region is projected to grow at healthy CAGR in the global wagyu beef market due to presence of rapidly developing economies such as Japan, China, Singapore, and Thailand. Changing product purchase behavior turning to the e-commerce sector across Asia Pacific and advantageous government policies are likely to fuel the growth of wagyu beef market in the future. For example, the Made in China 2025 is a ten-year national plan intended to enable China to transform into a global manufacturing power which is expected to boost product export from China, ultimately escalating demand for wagyu beef as a marketing and customer service strategy. Japan and China are at the forefront of product advancements where numerous wagyu beef brands are launched in the market further supporting the Asia Pacific wagyu beef market.

Number of consumers demanding for healthy wagyu beef is gradually increasing in Asia Pacific benefitting wagyu beef market. With the launch of new products in the premium meat sector, consumers considering health benefits are worry free regarding nutrition. Nowadays, new products launches in the Asia Pacific market are focused on nutrition, complete diet, and no side effects such as weight gain. Increasing number of health-conscious consumer focusing on healthy meat consumption and other health benefits such as disease prevention is ultimately driving the Asia Pacific wagyu beef market.

Key Players

Blackmore Wagyu, Itoham Foods Inc., SNAKE RIVER FARMS, Starzen Company Limited, Chicago Steak Company, Fairway Packing Company, Ito Ushi, and others

Key Development

Points Covered in the Report:

The points that are discussed within the report are-

• The complete profile of the companies is mentioned including the capacity, production, price, revenue, cost, gross, gross margin, sales volume, sales revenue, consumption, growth rate, import, export, supply, future strategies, and the technological developments that they are making are also included within the report. This report analyzed 5 years data history and forecast.
• The growth factors of the market are discussed in detail wherein the different end users of the market are explained in detail.
• Data and information by market player, by region and market segments
• Custom research can be added according to specific requirements.
• The report contains the SWOT analysis, PESTLE analysis, Value Chain Analysis of the market. Finally, the report contains the conclusion part where the opinions of the industrial experts are included.

Key Questions Answered:

• How much the global Wagyu Beef Market valued?
• Which region has the largest share in 2023 for the global Wagyu Beef Market?
• What are the driving factors for the market?
• Which is the leading segment in the global market?
• What are the major players in the market?
• Research Scope of Wagyu Beef Market:
• Historic year: 2020- 2022
• Base year: 2023
• Forecast: 2024 to 2032
• Representation of Market revenue in USD Million