Middle East and Africa region plays a crucial role in the Global halal food and beverages eco-system. A major hub for Muslim population, Middle East and Africa has a share of about 1/3rd of the global halal foods and beverages market. In the research report published by Actual Market Research titled- Middle East and Africa Halal Food and Beverage Market Outlook 2026, the data shows that during the period of 2015 to 2020, the halal foods and beverages market in the region grew by USD 159.19 Billion. It has been further forecasted that the region’s market will be growing at a CAGR of 7.77% during the period of 2020 to 2026. The region has about 93% of population being Muslims which naturally makes the region a very crucial part of the global halal food and beverages industry. Islam has the 2nd largest religion in the world and the fastest growing in the religion in the world. As more and more countries are trying to tap export opportunities of halal foods and beverages products into Middle East and Africa, the region is also working on expanding its domestic production of halal food and beverages.
In the regional halal food and beverages market of the Middle East and Africa, Turkey is the market leader with the biggest share in the market out of all major economies in the region. However, it is imperative to know that the market is highly fragmented and the majority of the regional market share is dominated by the Rest of the Middle East and Africa region other than UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, South Africa. As Islam is the major religion that is followed in the region, the region is one of the biggest importers of halal food and beverages especially halal meat, poultry, and seafood. The region shares strong ties with Latin American and Asian countries to fulfill their trade requirements for halal food. As per unmid.com, the Middle East and Africa imports about 90% of the beef and lamb it consumes. This also necessitates the need for having strong halal standards of certification for products coming from foreign regions. When halal food and beverages products come especially in processed form from regions like Latin America which is not an Islamic region, the challenge for maintaining halal integrity and standard becomes all the more important as there is a greater risk of contamination in the supply chain. Despite of these challenges, Middles East and African region continues to be a highly lucrative avenue for halal industry due to its expanding middle class population. Given that the family sizes of Muslim families living in the region are high, as the disposable income of the household grow up, the demand for halal certified products will also boost.
Middle East and Africa is a major hub for international halal food and beverages trade in the world. However most of the halal products that the region imports come from Non-Islamic countries. This makes it necessary for the Middle Eastern and African countries to have stringent halal certification rules and standards. With an attempt to do so, the countries set up their own regulations which differ from country to country. This poses difficulties and is burdensome for foreign exporters as they have to apply and go through multiple certification processes for different countries. This problem has long been identified as a major topic of discussion in global as well as Middle Eastern and African global halal forums but no concrete steps towards unification of halal standards have been taken as yet.
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