The revision is in the Poultry and Products Annual for the United Arab Emirates, report TC2026-0010, published by USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service on 5 October 2026 and prepared by its Dubai post. Consumption is estimated at 425,000 tonnes in 2026, about 10 percent below 2025, recovering to 485,000 tonnes in 2027 provided trade flows normalise. Local production stays flat at about 75,000 tonnes in both years, covering only 15 to 18 percent of consumption, so imports - mainly from Brazil and the United States - supply roughly 85 percent of the market.
The first-half data shows how the flow was interrupted and how it adapted. Total poultry imports including transshipments and re-exports came to 301,000 tonnes in January-June 2026 against 327,000 tonnes a year earlier, a fall of about 8 percent, with the whole of the decline concentrated in the second quarter, when volumes dropped about 19 percent year on year. Volumes still averaged more than 50,000 tonnes a month. Shipments of US origin fell about 15 percent over the half, but the pattern inside it matters: down about 27 percent in the first quarter, at the height of the regional tension in February and March, then down only about 5 percent in the second quarter.
Two things absorbed the shock. The first is routing. Khorfakkan and Fujairah sit outside the strait, and the UAE is the only Gulf state with coastlines on both sides of it. On 8 March 2026 Dubai Customs issued Notice No. 3/2026, allowing containers arriving at Khorfakkan or Fujairah to be moved by road to Jebel Ali port and the free zones without standard customs clearance at the first port of arrival; on 12 March 2026 Notice No. 4/2026 set up a "Green Corridor" with Oman's seaports, with coordinated inspection at crossings including Al Wajajah and Hatta. Cargo can also enter through Sohar, Duqm or Salalah and be trucked in, or through the Saudi Red Sea ports of King Abdullah and Jeddah, and Etihad Rail's 900 km network provides an inland link between the two coasts. DP World and the Fujairah Ports Authority are in advanced talks on a 50-year concession for new terminals at Al Rugaylat and Dibba.
The second is timing. Ramadan 2027 is expected to begin around 8 February, and the report notes that UAE importers normally start building inventory as early as October and November for shipments arriving in December and early January. Buying interest from the fourth quarter of 2026 onwards is therefore the practical window for exporters holding allocation for the first quarter.
For a supplier, the useful reading is that volume did not disappear, it moved. What decides whether a container clears is whether the certificate set matches the entry point actually used, whether the transit route declared on the documents matches the one the carrier operates, and whether the cold chain survives an extra road leg from an east-coast port. Files prepared for a direct Jebel Ali arrival are not automatically valid for a Khorfakkan discharge followed by road transit.
Nau International Food Group supplies halal frozen poultry and frozen meat from HACCP-certified, GACC-registered plants, with halal certificates, veterinary health certificates and certificates of origin issued for each shipment. We arrange customs clearance and delivery into Dubai, including routing through Khorfakkan and Fujairah where that is faster, and onward distribution across the Gulf, Africa and Central Asia. For specifications, packing data and current offers, write to info@naufoodgroup.com.
Source: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, GAIN report "Poultry and Products Annual - United Arab Emirates", TC2026-0010, 5 October 2026; Dubai Customs Notices No. 3/2026 and No. 4/2026 as cited in that report.
