Global halal market is estimated to exceed 500 billion dollars and Russia plans to establish strong presence in it, according to a source in the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation voiced on the sidelines of Gulfood 2016 exhibition.

In an interview to RT Arabic, the source said: "We are planning to establish strong presence in this market, it has huge potential."

He also added that Russia specifically considers the markets of the United Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Morocco, Kuwait, Pakistan, Egypt as prospective from this point.

"Over the recent years, more and more meat-processing plants started to undergo the process of halal certification. The registry now includes more than 20 large certified enterprises and more than 60 halal produce items," said the source.

According to him, poultry is the most popular type of halal meat in Russia. A third of all produced poultry meat (1.5 out of 4.4 million ton) is halal certified. The amount of meat to be exported to Muslim countries equals 500,000 million tons.

"We are working on the development of a fully halal-compliant beef industry," said the source.

RIA "Novosti"