The halal food economy has quietly become one of the fastest-growing sectors in global trade. What was once considered purely a religious dietary requirement has now evolved into a major international industry. Halal today is not just about religion—it also encompasses food safety, hygiene, traceability, and animal welfare standards. As a result, multinational companies and even non-Muslim countries dominate global halal meat exports, while Muslim countries, including Pakistan, play only a limited role.

Estimates suggest that the global halal food market has reached approximately $3 trillion, and it could surpass $6 trillion in the next decade. The halal meat sector alone accounts for nearly $280–300 billion annually. This demonstrates that halal meat is no longer a niche religious market but a major pillar of international agricultural trade.

Pakistan is naturally positioned to become a major exporter in this field. It is an Islamic country, home to one of the largest livestock populations in the world, and traditional slaughter methods automatically comply with halal standards. Yet Pakistan’s share in global halal trade remains only about 0.25 percent. The country produces roughly 6 million tons of meat annually, with livestock contributing approximately 15 percent to the national GDP and over 60 percent to agricultural value addition. Despite this, meat exports are limited to roughly $0.5 billion annually, while Brazil earns $15 billion annually from halal meat. The reality is clear: Pakistan has animals, but it lacks an effective export system.

Among all constraints, the most critical is Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD). In global trade, FMD is not just a veterinary disease—it determines market access. Countries like Japan, South Korea, the European Union, and many Gulf states import meat only from countries recognized as FMD-free by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH). Pakistan currently lacks internationally recognized disease-free zones, making the export of fresh or chilled beef virtually impossible. Premium markets remain closed, leaving Pakistan limited to low-priced frozen meat. In global meat trade, price is determined more by disease status than by quality; FMD-free countries earn two to three times higher prices. Halal slaughter alone is not enough—veterinary status is decisive.

Even more serious than infrastructure is the weak legal and administrative framework governing meat production and exports.

Pakistan has no shortage of livestock, but it suffers from systemic gaps. There is no effective national halal regulatory framework, no mandatory animal identification system, no traceability laws, no compulsory farm registration, and certification bodies are fragmented with overlapping responsibilities. Municipal slaughterhouses still operate under local regulations designed for domestic supply, not international trade.

Veterinary inspections are often formalities, while international buyers require legal guarantees. Without a proper legal structure, halal certification remains merely a label.

Surprisingly, 78 years after independence, the Ministry of National Food Security and Research recognized the weaknesses in livestock policy and, in mid-2026, appointed a Livestock Promotion Consultant with a salary of approximately Rs 1 million per month. This raises a fundamental question. The Ministry already has a fully staffed Office of the Animal Husbandry Commissioner, the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), and provincial livestock departments across the country. If these institutions—with their technical staff, resources, and laboratories—cannot develop livestock promotion and export strategies, the problem is not the absence of advice but institutional inefficiency and lack of coordination.

This appointment highlights a deep administrative crisis: after appointing the Livestock Promotion Consultant, what is now the need and role of the Office of the Animal Husbandry Commissioner? PARC and provincial departments already exist, yet if a new consultancy is considered necessary, it reflects institutional gaps and ineffective management.

Modern halal trade demands full “farm-to-fork” traceability. Every animal must be identifiable, with its origin and disease history documented. Pakistan’s livestock markets are informal; animals pass through multiple markets with no official record. Consequently, exporters cannot prove disease-free history, and international auditors do not accept these facilities.

Furthermore, halal meat exports rely on refrigerated supply chains, while Pakistan lacks adequate cold storage, refrigerated transport, and quality packaging, limiting exports mostly to frozen meat.

Most of Pakistan’s livestock are dual-purpose or dairy breeds, not specialized beef breeds, resulting in lower carcass yields and weaker global competitiveness. Pakistan exports raw carcasses, while top exporters sell vacuum-packed cuts, ready-to-cook products, and branded halal food. Revenue comes not from slaughter but from processing and branding.

The rapidly growing domestic population consumes most of the local production, leaving little surplus for export.

Interestingly, Brazil, Australia, and India lead in halal meat trade. Their advantage lies not in religion but in regulation—disease-free certification, traceability laws, animal identification, and strict veterinary enforcement. Today, halal trade is essentially a regulated food safety industry.

If Pakistan wants to compete in the global halal market, it must establish FMD-free zones, implement vaccination and surveillance programs, enforce mandatory identification and traceability systems, upgrade slaughterhouses to export standards, ensure quarantine and laboratory certification, improve cold chain infrastructure, optimize feedlot finishing, and develop value-added processing.

Pakistan’s problem is not a lack of animals or halal slaughter, but a lack of a reliable system. Global markets buy trust, not just meat, and trust comes from traceability, disease control, and institutional credibility.

This transformation cannot happen without administrative reform. The Ministry of National Food Security and Research and its affiliated institutions, especially PARC, must be reorganized, and provincial livestock departments must be strengthened technically and administratively. Currently, policy and implementation are separate, research is disconnected from ground realities, and disease control is detached from export strategies. Research institutions produce reports, provincial departments perform routine activities, and exporters struggle alone to meet global requirements. Such a fragmented system cannot sustain a modern export industry.

A unified national livestock and meat export framework is essential, integrating research, vaccination, surveillance, traceability, certification, quarantine, and trade as a single system.

Disease-free zones, animal identification, laboratory approvals, and internationally recognized halal certification require genuine federal-provincial coordination. Until institutions are clearly tasked, accountable, and organized around export targets, Pakistan will remain rich in livestock but poor in exports. Pakistan produces halal meat by tradition, but the world imports it based on systems. Halal today is not just a religious requirement—it is a scientific, legal, veterinary, and institutional framework, and without administrative reforms, Pakistan’s share in the global halal economy will remain minimal.

Dr Alamdar Hussain Malik
Advisor, Veterinary Sciences
University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Swat
Former Financial Adviser, Finance Division
Government of Pakistan