IFANCA 2012 White Paper: The Halal Industry Drives U.S. Economic and Export Development

Halal food constitutes the fastest-growing consumer market in the United States. In 2011, Halal consumers spent as much as $15 billion on food and related services. This significant growth is also reflected in the change in the number of Halal meat specialty stores — from only 10 stores in 1970 to more than 2,300 stores in 2012 (according to Zabihah.com and its white-page statistics). In addition, there are now more than 6,900 restaurants serving Halal consumers. Our survey results show that the Halal market provides jobs for tens of thousands of Americans.

Halal Food Service

The growth of the Halal food-service industry can be traced to many factors, which are in turn interrelated. Restaurants offering Halal catering have undoubtedly seen the business opportunity in the growing demand from an expanding Halal consumer base. The different taste needs of Halal consumers have also promoted the development of new Halal dishes beyond the traditional Halal menu. Today, at American subway stations, one can find American, Italian, and Mexican halal dishes everywhere, in addition to Middle Eastern, South African, and Turkish dishes. And the equal enthusiasm with which consumers at large accept dishes of different flavors has in turn promoted the development of the Halal market. As the number of Halal consumers on U.S. university campuses continues to grow, so too does demand from corporate cafeterias, airline caterers, and hospital food-service providers seeking to accommodate an increasingly diverse customer and patient base.

This local growth story is no longer an isolated American phenomenon — it is part of a much larger global realignment now being documented at scale in the State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2025/26, produced by DinarStandard in partnership with Salaam Gateway, and supported by the Islamic Development Bank Institute (IsDBI) and IFANCA.

A Global Market Reaching New Scale

Across its seven core sectors — halal food, Islamic finance, Muslim-friendly travel, modest fashion, halal pharmaceuticals, halal cosmetics, and media and recreation — the global Islamic economy reached US$2.6 trillion in consumer spending in 2024 and is projected to grow to US$3.6 trillion by 2029, representing a 12.6% share of the global consumer market tied to halal-related products. Halal food remains the clear anchor of this ecosystem, accounting for US$1.5 trillion in 2024, rising to a projected US$2.1 trillion by 2029 at a 6.2% compound annual growth rate. It remains, by a wide margin, the largest single expression of everyday Muslim consumer demand — larger than modest fashion (US$347 billion), Muslim-friendly travel (US$249 billion), media and recreation (US$276 billion), halal pharmaceuticals (US$112 billion), and halal cosmetics (US$92 billion) combined.

Islamic finance, meanwhile, continues to serve as the major enabling force behind the wider system, growing from US$6 trillion in assets in 2024 to a projected US$9.7 trillion by 2029 — a 10.2% CAGR that reflects, according to the report’s data partner LSEG, fifty years of continuous expansion since the founding of Dubai Islamic Bank in 1975. Islamic finance assets grew 21% in a single year between 2023 and 2024 alone, and global sukuk issuance crossed the US$1 trillion mark for the first time in 2024.

America’s Place in the Global Halal Value Chain

The United States’ role in this ecosystem is more significant than domestic coverage often suggests. The report identifies the U.S. as one of the top five countries exporting food and beverage products to OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) markets, alongside Brazil, India, Russia, and the UAE — a reflection of how deeply American food producers, including Halal-certified suppliers, are embedded in the US$302.4 billion food and beverage import market across OIC member states. That figure sits within the broader US$421.5 billion in total halal-related imports recorded by OIC economies in 2024, a market projected to reach US$616.1 billion by 2029.

The U.S. also appears among the top five consumer markets for halal pharmaceuticals, at US$8.8 billion, and among the top five consumer markets for halal cosmetics, at US$1.3 billion — underscoring that Halal consumption in America extends well beyond the dinner table and into everyday health and personal-care purchasing. Beyond food, the report’s “Islamic-Themed Media and Recreation” chapter places the U.S. as the second-largest consumer market globally in that sector, at US$27.4 billion, trailing only Türkiye — a signal that America’s Muslim population is not just a market for goods, but a growing audience for faith-aligned entertainment, streaming content, and digital media.

Capital Is Following the Infrastructure, Not Just the Brands

One of the notable findings in this year’s report is where investment capital is actually flowing. Global investment activity across the Islamic economy accelerated sharply in 2025, reaching 346 transactions worth a disclosed US$13.1 billion, up from 225 deals in 2024 and 220 in 2023. Within halal food specifically, investors deployed US$4.5 billion across 64 deals in 2025, led by Saudi Arabia (US$2.6 billion), Türkiye (US$711 million), and Indonesia (US$399 million). The report notes that this capital is consolidating the halal food supply chain itself, not merely funding consumer-facing brands — exemplified by the Sadia Halal joint venture between Brazil’s MBRF and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, described as the world’s largest halal chicken company at a US$2.1 billion valuation, and by Almarai’s US$4.8 billion five-year expansion plan targeting 450 million birds per year in poultry production.

A Values-Driven Consumer Base That Is Not Slowing Down

The report’s consumer research also offers a data-backed picture of how durable faith-aligned purchasing has become. A social media listening analysis tracking 26,809 posts across Instagram and Facebook, monitoring more than 86 million engagements, and incorporating over 9,300 tweets on X, found that consumer engagement with alternative, values-aligned brands has not receded since its initial surge — it has continued to climb. Instagram engagement with 40 tracked alternative brands rose from 1.7 million interactions in the pre-movement period to 31.1 million during the initial phase, and climbed further still to 40.9 million in the most recent period measured.

Where the Ecosystem Is Strongest

The report’s Global Islamic Economy Indicator (GIEI), which scores 81 countries across five dimensions — financial, governance, awareness, social, and innovation — found Malaysia holding the top overall position with a score of 186.1, followed by the UAE (137.5), Saudi Arabia (107.9), Indonesia (96), and Bahrain (76). Within the halal food sector specifically, Malaysia, the UAE, Indonesia, Thailand, and Brazil lead the GIEI rankings.

Full Circle: From Certification to Global Health

IFANCA‘s own institutional footprint reflects a similar evolution — from a certifying body assuring the dietary integrity of food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic products carrying its Crescent-M mark, to a recognized voice in global health equity. As international partners gathered in Abu Dhabi at the close of 2025 to pledge a collective US$1.9 billion toward the final push to eradicate polio, IFANCA’s own US$4 million commitment to that effort was cited as emblematic of the trust that faith-based institutions carry in communities where government and international authority alone are not always sufficient to secure public confidence. As IFANCA President Dr. Muhammad Munir Chaudhry noted of that effort, “the last mile is the hardest” — a principle that applies equally to the ongoing work of building Halal assurance infrastructure that consumers, regulators, and industry can trust, market by market, product by product, meal by meal.