$1.4 trillion global demand for Halal products: Development of their export from Russia was discussed at KazanForum 16.05.2025 15:47On the main day of KazanForum 2025, May 15, the event was officially opened by Tatarstan's Rais Rustam Minnikhanov and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin. Alongside the ceremony and a tour of regional and international participants' booths, the session "Exporting Russian Halal Products: Expanding Horizons" kicked off, organized by the Russian Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Center "Agroexport."
Participants—representatives of government agencies, industry unions and associations, key Russian agricultural producers and exporters, and international experts—discussed prospects for developing halal-compliant exports from various industries, new agricultural sectors seeking halal certification, and the results of implementing the halal accreditation scheme at the national level. Sergey Lakhtyukhov, Director General of the National Union of Poultry Farmers, moderated the meeting.
"Today, Russia exports to 160 countries. In 2024, we exported more than $43 billion worth of products. Our main products are grains, fish, legumes, sunflower oil, and rapeseed oil. But we have ambitious goals—the president has set the goal of increasing exports to $55 billion by 2030. We see a significant role for trade with Islamic countries in achieving this goal ," said Elena Fastova, First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Russia, at the session.
According to her estimates, over 20 million Muslims live in Russia, which ensures growth in domestic consumption of halal products and their export. Last year, Russia exported $380 million worth of halal products, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iran being the top destinations. Our country is also developing halal exports to Algeria, Kuwait, Jordan, and Egypt, concluded Elena Fastova.
At the suggestion of moderator Sergey Lakhtyukhov, session participants considered the halal industry as an entire ecosystem. Alexey Yakovlev, Director of the Financial Policy Department of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, discussed its financial component, in particular the development of partner financing. Marat Sadriev, Director of the Islamic Banking Center at Ak Bars Bank, presented specific case studies in this area.
"Currently, 25 percent of the world's population is Muslim, and this share is expected to increase to 35 percent. The total demand for halal products is estimated at $1.4 trillion annually ," Agroexport CEO Ilya Ilyushin told the event participants. He expressed hope that Russian products will reach Malaysian stores this year. He also named Iraq, Egypt, and Indonesia as other promising countries for increasing Russian halal exports in the coming years.
"We estimate the volume of Russian agricultural exports to the markets of the largest Islamic countries by 2030 to be worth more than $26 billion ," noted Ilya Ilyushin.
Aidar Gazizov, Director General of the International Halal Standardization and Certification Center, conveyed greetings from Chief Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gainutdin, Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation, to the session participants:
"We began developing the halal industry in 2002, when, following numerous requests from Muslims in our country, Mufti Gainutdin submitted a corresponding request to Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Government resources were then brought into the work carried out by our spiritual administration. In 2003, the first halal standard in the post-Soviet space was published."
Aidar Gazizov welcomed another speaker at the session, Dr. Sirajuddin bin Suhaimi, Director-General of the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM), and noted that the first Russian standard was based on the Malaysian halal standard.
"For 23 years, our center has been exporting Russian halal products abroad for 10 of those years thanks to the accreditations we've received over the years: JAC, SASO, SFDA, MOIAT, IMANOR, and JAKIM. We're working on accreditation in Algeria, and we plan to obtain accreditation in Indonesia within a month ," said the head of the Halal International Center for Social and Health Sciences.
" Today, our country is setting a good example, with representatives of different nationalities and religions working to develop the halal industry. We Muslims are doing our part, and our government agencies and businesses are doing theirs. This collaboration is helping us successfully achieve our goals. I thank the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, with whom we signed a cooperation agreement in 2020 ," concluded Aidar Gazizov.
Representatives of the Halal International Center for Social and Social Development (ICSS) partner companies also spoke at the KazanForum session. Dmitry Antonov, Senior Vice President of the Resource Group of Agro-Enterprises, emphasized that these companies also took the initiative at the dawn of the halal industry in Russia:
"As their production expanded, Russian agricultural entrepreneurs demonstrated great respect for our country's multi-religious nature: they began actively producing halal products so that Muslims could eat them without compromising their principles. Today, as has been noted, halal products are also consumed by members of other religions."
Among the partners of the Halal Center at the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of the Russian Federation, Kirill Chechin, Executive Director of Komos Group LLC, Elena Ozerova, Head of the Foreign Economic Activity Sales Department of Essen Production AG JSC, and Rail Fazulzyanov, owner of EMIZ Trading House LLC, also spoke at the session.
Ilshat Fazrakhmanov, Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Bashkortostan, shared regional experience in developing the halal industry. Khalid Musa Shehadeh Al-Hunafat, Minister of Agriculture of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; Ihsan Ovut, Secretary General of the Standardization and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries (SMIIC); and Mohammad Al-Dhafiri, Executive Vice President of the Halal Center of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a branch of the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA).
Based on materials from the press service of the Russian Spiritual Directorate of Muslims (DUM)
