Global halal sector valued over $2 trillion
Hundreds of halal products all under one roof - from children's toys to carpets and street food - during the Halal Expo London, which ran from 2-3 December 2022.
In Arabic, halal means "permissible", in contrast to haram which is forbidden.
It's a wide-ranging expression that covers many aspects of Islamic life.
Halal is most closely associated with meat, but many sectors of business fall within Islamic law - including beauty, pharmaceuticals, fashion, tourism and finance.
The first Halal Expo London is aiming to bring together these diverse sectors and promote global trade.
Dinar Standard is a management consulting and market research firm - like McKinsey or Accenture - specialising in the Islamic business sphere.
With close to two billion Muslims on the planet, it's hardly surprising that the halal economy is a large and fast-growing sector that all businesses (halal or otherwise) can't afford to ignore.
"Defining Halal economy is one of the key challenges," says Rafi-uddin Shikoh, CEO and managing director of Dinar Standard.”
"If you take food, modest fashion, pharma, cosmetics, tourism, all of these other sectors, the global spending of the 1.8 billion Muslims, approximately, on these sectors is $2.01 trillion (USD) last year, which is the latest estimates we did, which if you look at just the food sector among these six, is the highest one, about $1.17 trillion of consumer spending," adds Rafi-uddin Shikoh.
Halal is most closely associated with food, where Islamic law does not permit pork to be eaten and states animals must be slaughtered alive and healthy with the offering of prayer and a single strike from a sharp knife.
One of the largest UK suppliers of halal meat is Shazans, which provides meat for major supermarkets, including Tesco, and restaurant chains, including Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and Nando's.
What began as a small family business in Preston making samosas, has rapidly transformed into a halal meat empire, worth over £100 million GBP in 2022.
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