Exporting Halal Meat and Beef from Pakistan to the Gulf: What You Need

By Olympic AgenciesLast updated: 10 July 2026

Quick Answer

Yes. Exporters need Pakistan Halal Authority certification, an animal health certificate through PSW, and for Saudi Arabia, SFDA facility registration plus a GAC-accredited Halal Shipment Certificate per consignment. Pakistan holds only 0.25% of the $3 trillion global halal food trade, and a new export policy was approved in December 2025 to grow it.

Key facts
Global halal trade share	Pakistan holds about 0.25% of the $3 trillion global halal food trade
Policy push	PM Shehbaz Sharif approved a halal meat export policy on 18 December 2025 and ordered a three-year export strategy
Production base	Pakistan's total halal meat production stands at 6 million metric tonnes; surplus available for export after domestic demand
Saudi requirement	GAC-accredited Halal Certification Body, SFDA facility registration, and a Halal Shipment Certificate per consignment
Port chokepoint	Frozen storage at Karachi Port/Port Qasim holds cargo 5 to 14 days while shipments consolidate, tightest October to February

Pakistan's halal meat exporters need three things layered on top of each other: Pakistan Halal Authority (PHA) certification, an animal health certificate through the quarantine system, and, for Saudi Arabia specifically, SFDA facility registration plus a GAC-accredited Halal Shipment Certificate for every consignment. Pakistan currently holds only about 0.25% of the $3 trillion global halal food trade, and a new government policy approved in December 2025 is aimed at growing that share. Here is what actually needs to be in place before a reefer container leaves Karachi.

What does the Pakistan Halal Authority actually do?

The Pakistan Halal Authority was established under the Ministry of Science and Technology by Act VIII of 2016, and it is the sole legal authority for halal certification inside Pakistan, per the Pakistan Halal Authority. Its job is to ascertain and continuously monitor the halal status of products, processes, and services, both for the domestic market and for anything being imported or exported.

Beyond certifying products directly, PHA's core function is assessing and registering the competence of Halal Certification Bodies (HCBs), monitoring correct use of halal marks, and protecting the integrity of the halal supply chain end to end. For meat specifically, PHA has approved a formal registration mechanism for slaughterhouses engaged in international trade, so a facility exporting meat must be registered as compliant with Islamic slaughtering practices and hygiene standards before its output can carry a halal export certificate.

What certificate does an animal or animal product need before export?

Exporting fresh or frozen meat requires an animal health certificate confirming the product has been tested and found free of specified diseases, filed through Pakistan's quarantine system. This process now runs through the Pakistan Single Window: a trader registers with PSW, links a bank profile to their business profile, then creates an export declaration and uploads the required documents; the system generates a payment slip, and once approved, the exporter prints the certificate in the prescribed format, per the Pakistan Trade Facilitation Portal's export certificate procedure.

Note that this quarantine function is in transition. The government merged the Animal Quarantine Department (AQD) into a new National Agri-trade and Food Safety Authority (NAFSA), along with the Department of Plant Protection, under legislation described as the NAFSA Act, with the stated aim of aligning Pakistan's SPS compliance with international standards such as Codex Alimentarius and the World Organisation for Animal Health, after repeated rejections of Pakistani food exports by some overseas markets, according to Dawn's reporting on the new authority. Exporters should confirm with their agent which office is issuing certificates at the time of shipment during this transition.

What does Saudi Arabia specifically require beyond a general halal certificate?

Saudi Arabia layers on requirements that go beyond a generic halal certificate. First, the exporting facility must be registered with the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) before an audit can even be booked, a registration step described as taking under 10 minutes but saving roughly 10 weeks of process time; each approved facility gets a unique registration number that must appear on every export document and on the product packaging, per an export-guide summary of the requirement.

Second, every shipment needs a Halal Shipment Certificate (HSC) issued by a recognized Halal Certification Body, confirming the product was made at an approved facility, that halal purity was maintained through production, packaging, and logistics, and that the shipment complies with SFDA and GAC (Gulf Accreditation Center) halal import rules. The certifying body itself must be GAC-accredited and on Saudi Arabia's approved list, or the shipment is rejected outright, and Saudi Arabia enforces this as a zero-tolerance policy: shipments certified by unrecognized bodies get rejected, delayed, or destroyed at customs, the same guide notes.

Requirement	Applies to	What it confirms
PHA / HCB halal certificate	All halal exports	Product and process meet halal standards
SFDA facility registration	Exports to Saudi Arabia	Facility approved, gets a registration number for all documents
Halal Shipment Certificate (HSC)	Every Saudi-bound consignment	GAC-accredited certifier confirms purity maintained through logistics
Animal health certificate (quarantine)	All fresh/frozen animal product exports	Product tested, free of specified diseases

For the wider GCC beyond Saudi Arabia, the Gulf Standardization Organization's GSO 2055-1:2015 standard provides a shared halal framework, but each GCC member state still runs its own enforcement, so approval in one Gulf country does not automatically clear a shipment for entry into another, according to halal certification guides for the region.

How large is the opportunity, and what is the government doing about it?

Pakistan's total halal meat production stands at 6 million metric tonnes, and after domestic demand is met, the country has a substantial surplus that could go to export if backed by international-standard packaging and competitive pricing, per Business Recorder's coverage of the new export policy. Yet Pakistan currently holds only around 0.25% of the global halal food trade, valued at more than $3 trillion, according to Dawn.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved a new halal meat export policy on 18 December 2025 and directed authorities to present a comprehensive three-year export strategy within two weeks, with a specialist committee tasked with proposals on production capacity, cold storage, and logistics, and with ensuring exports are sourced from disease-free zones under high hygiene standards, the same Dawn report notes. An early industry proposal under this push set a target of $200 million in meat exports to Malaysia alone, per Business Recorder.

What is the actual logistics bottleneck for meat exporters at Karachi?

Halal beef, mutton, and poultry exporters share a single physical chokepoint: minus 25 degrees Celsius frozen storage at port, which holds cargo for 5 to 14 days while a shipment consolidates and a vessel is booked. That freezer capacity runs at its ceiling from October to February, the same window when Gulf import demand peaks for both meat and seafood simultaneously, according to a freight-industry review of Pakistan's meat export logistics. A 20-foot or 40-foot reefer container typically holds between 20 and 26 tonnes of product, with temperature logged continuously in transit, that same data forming part of the compliance record buyers check on arrival.

This is also why booking early matters more for meat than for most other agricultural exports: unlike a hay or seed shipment, a delayed meat container cannot simply wait at ambient temperature for the next available reefer slot. If you are also shipping fodder or seed alongside meat, see our guides to exporting Rhodes grass hay to the Gulf and phytosanitary certification through PSW, which cover the plant-side equivalent of these same certification and routing questions.

Olympic Agencies has cleared agricultural cargo, seeds, fertilizer, and agricultural machinery at Karachi Port and Port Qasim since 1982, and we extend that same customs and freight coordination to halal meat exporters. We arrange animal quarantine documentation, coordinate with PHA-approved certifiers, and book reefer container space to the Gulf under our freight forwarding service. Send us your product, destination country, and volume on WhatsApp and we will handle the rest.

Exporting halal beef or meat to the Gulf? WhatsApp your product, destination, and volume and we will arrange certification, quarantine clearance, and reefer booking.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What role does the Pakistan Halal Authority play in meat exports?+

The Pakistan Halal Authority (PHA), established under the Ministry of Science and Technology by an Act of Parliament (Act VIII of 2016), is the sole legal authority for halal certification in Pakistan and is responsible for ascertaining the halal status of products, processes, and services in both the local market and for goods being imported or exported. PHA also registers and monitors the competence of Halal Certification Bodies and has approved a formal registration mechanism for slaughterhouses engaged in international trade.

What extra certificate does Saudi Arabia require beyond a general halal certificate?+

Saudi Arabia requires every meat and poultry shipment to carry a Halal Shipment Certificate (HSC) issued by a Halal Certification Body that is GAC-accredited and on the Saudi-approved list, confirming the goods came from an SFDA-registered facility and that halal purity was maintained through production, packaging, and logistics. Saudi Arabia enforces a zero-tolerance policy on certificates from unrecognized bodies, and shipments with invalid certification are rejected, delayed, or destroyed at customs.

What is Pakistan's current global halal meat export position?+

Pakistan holds roughly 0.25% of the global halal food trade, which is valued at more than $3 trillion, despite the country's large livestock base. The government approved a new halal meat export policy on 18 December 2025, directing a three-year strategy to boost exports, with an early industry proposal targeting $200 million in meat exports to Malaysia alone.

What logistics bottleneck affects halal meat exports from Karachi?+

Halal beef, mutton, and poultry exporters share a single chokepoint: minus 25 degrees Celsius frozen storage capacity at Karachi Port and Port Qasim, which holds cargo for 5 to 14 days while shipments consolidate and vessels are booked. That freezer capacity runs at its ceiling from October to February, when Gulf import demand for both meat and seafood peaks at the same time.

Olympic Agencies

Clearing agricultural cargo - seeds, fertilizers, and machinery - at Karachi Port and Port Qasim since 1982. Members of PIFFA and the Chamber of Commerce.