Over the past two years, plant-based food consumption has grown by 49% across the EU, reaching a total sales volume of €3.6 billion.
The UAE's new halal policy could have a significant impact on the global halal economy
2025-05-15
Since Dubai announced its ambition to become the global capital of the halal economy last January, it's unclear how it will achieve this goal. Plans are still taking shape, and at this stage, their indicators suggest a possibility. Overall, the UAE's approach could be more beneficial to the global halal economy, maximizing the impact on the UAE as a food importer and Dubai in particular as a trading hub, potentially leading to greater global dissemination of new halal standards.
The UAE recently launched a halal scheme, allowing organizations like the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology (ESMA) to determine whether products produced or imported into Dubai are halal. The new halal scheme will be used to develop a set of halal standards for imports from countries across the UAE that reflect its diverse population, including those with halal products destined for other parts of the world and transshipped through Dubai's ports. The application of halal standards for goods in transit is crucial, and Dubai is unique due to its location at the center of many trade routes.
If a halal product meets national standards, it can be shipped there. (Those countries may not have national standards, or their standards may differ from those in the UAE.) It will still reach its destination. However, avoiding Dubai may increase costs and provide producers with an economic incentive to adapt to UAE standards. Furthermore, halal logistics have cascading effects around the world, requiring proof of the product's origin and its absence from contamination during its stay in the UAE.
Dubai's central location will make it more likely that logistics providers will invest in the necessary infrastructure if they intend to ship goods through Dubai. Since consumers are generally unaware of the entire journey of their food products before they reach their local stores, the idea of halal logistics will likely not be a major selling point. However, if producers must prove their entire supply chain is halal, this will incentivize them to demand that their logistics providers demonstrate end-to-end traceability.
On another level, however, the UAE's halal program may impact the work of organizations such as the Institute of Standards and Metrology within the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and others developing a single halal standard. With the increase in trade in halal goods, particularly the volume of freight passing through Dubai, the pressure to adhere to a single set of halal food standards will intensify on producers due to the costs associated with both compliance and compliance. If these costs rise sufficiently, they will intensify pressure on their governments (or local halal food standards and certification bodies) to either lower their national standards in favor of the UAE's or to negotiate mutual recognition of halal standards with the UAE's halal program. Overall, the new halal policy has significant potential to impact the Islamic economy, both in terms of developing local UAE infrastructure and requiring halal certification for transit through Dubai, and in encouraging other countries to adopt UAE standards.