Halal Meat UK Exports & Imports

UK Halal Meat Trade: Exports and Imports

Precise figures for UK halal meat exports and imports are not available. The FSA does not record or publish trade data broken down by halal status, making an exact picture of the UK halal meat trade impossible to establish from official sources.

UK Halal Meat Exports

All beef, lamb, and poultry exported from the UK to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries must be certified halal. The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman.

Between 2018 and 2019, there was a 700% increase in the volume of UK sheep meat exported to the UAE. Between 2018 and 2019, there was also a 301% increase in the volume of UK lamb exported to the Middle East from animals that were stunned prior to slaughter.

Between January and August 2022, the UK exported 516 tonnes of fresh halal sheep meat to Kuwait with a value of nearly £4.5 million, representing over half of all UK fresh sheep meat exported outside the EU in that period.

Stunned and Unstunned Halal Exports

No government body publishes a tonnage or value breakdown of UK halal meat exports split by stunned and non-stunned. The FSA's own figures on exports of non-stunned halal meat are described by the RSPCA as “ambiguous at best.” The RSPCA has called on the FSA to publish clearer data on the numbers and destinations of non-stunned exported meat; as of 2024 the FSA had not done so.

The only published figure for non-stunned halal exports is from the RSPCA in 2022, which reported that UK exports of non-stunned halal meat were equivalent to approximately 800,000 sheep per year. No equivalent figure for stunned halal exports exists in published data. No updated figure has been published since 2022.

Parliament noted in February 2026 that production of non-stunned halal meat in the UK significantly exceeds domestic Muslim and Jewish population demand, with the excess going to export markets.

Certification for UK Halal Exports

The UK has more than 20 halal certification bodies. Only a small number are approved to issue halal export certificates accepted by countries in the Middle East, Malaysia, Turkey, and Indonesia.

UK certification bodies recognised for GCC exports include the Halal Food Authority (HFA), Halal Certification Europe (HCE), and Halal Certification Organisation (HCO). These certifiers must be recognised by the relevant authority in the importing country.

GCC countries enforce halal standards based on harmonised Gulf Standards Organisation (GSO) requirements, specifically GSO 2055-2. Saudi Arabia has enforced these standards since November 2020 and requires a separate halal certificate for each individual shipment entering the country.

Many importing countries prohibit use of a generic halal logo and require the certifier's own registered logo, or a logo specifically registered by the importing country's authority.

UK Halal Meat Imports

By 2023, AHDB and NIQ estimated that £823 million was spent on halal meat by UK consumers.

New Zealand and Australia are the dominant sources of imported halal sheep meat into the UK. Together they accounted for 86% of UK sheep meat imports in 2024, up from 78% in 2023. Both countries export exclusively pre-stunned halal-certified meat.

Stunned and Unstunned Halal Imports

New Zealand: Pre-stunning before commercial slaughter is compulsory under the Animal Welfare (Commercial Slaughter) Code of Welfare 2018. All halal meat imported into the UK from New Zealand is therefore from pre-stunned animals.

Australia: Only product processed under the Australian Government Authorized Halal Program (AGAHP) qualifies as halal-certified. All such product is from pre-stunned animals.

Top 10 Halal Meat Exporters to Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Countries

Figures represent exports of halal meat to Muslim-majority importing countries. This is the most complete publicly available country-level breakdown for halal meat. The top 10 exporters account for a combined trade value of US$14.04 billion.

No country-level breakdown covering all halal meat trade globally is published by any national statistics body.

Global halal meat trade will be billions of dollars larger than the figures shown here. No organisation collects or publishes a complete worldwide total for halal meat trade by country.