Meat of Camels, Fresh or Chilled Consumption by Country

Saudi Arabia recorded the largest listed camel meat supply in 2023, at 62,548 tonnes, or about 15.7 percent of the listed total. Kenya ranked second at 55,052 tonnes, followed by the Emirates at 37,961 tonnes and China at 36,441 tonnes. Mauritania ranked first per person at 15.43 grams a day, ahead of Mongolia at 10.89 grams. The listed 2023 total was 397,324 tonnes, and 40 of the 45 country rows reported a value for that year, 38 of them above zero. These figures measure food available for human consumption, not the amount people actually ate.

Which countries have the highest camel meat supply?

Saudi Arabia ranked first in 2023, with 62,548 tonnes of camel meat available for human consumption, followed by Kenya at 55,052 tonnes and the United Arab Emirates at 37,961 tonnes. Mauritania ranked first per person, at 15.43 grams a day. These figures measure food supply, not the amount people actually ate.

The three leading countries together accounted for about 39.2 percent of the listed 2023 total, so supply here is spread more evenly than a dominant leader would suggest.

• Kenya recorded the largest listed gain by volume.
• Saudi Arabia added 5,628 tonnes, up 9.9 percent.
• Egypt recorded the largest decline by tonnage.
• Niger lost about a sixth of its 2022 level.

Meat of Camels, Fresh or Chilled Consumption

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#	Country	2023 (tonnes)2023	2023 (grams per person per day)2023
1	Saudi Arabia SA	62.55K	5.15
2	Kenya KE	55.05K	2.73
3	United Arab Emirates AE	37.96K	9.77
4	China CN	36.44K	0.07
5	Ethiopia ET	34.12K	0.73
6	Mauritania MR	28.3K	15.43
7	Egypt EG	20.42K	0.49
8	Oman OM	18.33K	9.94
9	Algeria DZ	15.91K	0.94
10	Mongolia MN	13.64K	10.89
11	Turkmenistan TM	12.86K	4.78
12	Niger NE	12.71K	1.33
13	Kazakhstan KZ	8.02K	1.08
14	Iran IR	6.44K	0.19
15	Pakistan PK	5.82K	0.06
16	Libya LY	5.6K	2.1
17	Morocco MA	4.54K	0.33
18	Afghanistan AF	3.68K	0.24
19	Yemen YE	2.98K	0.21
20	Kuwait KW	2.97K	1.68
21	Iraq IQ	2.1K	0.15
22	Tunisia TN	1.48K	0.33
23	Uzbekistan UZ	1.38K	0.11
24	Qatar QA	1.16K	1.06
25	Jordan JO	761	0.18
26	Djibouti DJ	663.35	1.58
27	Syria SY	510.47	0.06
28	Burkina Faso BF	453.12	0.05
29	Bahrain BH	243.96	0.43
30	Russia RU	109.92	0
31	Israel IL	88.01	0.03
32	Senegal SN	20.11	0
33	Germany DE	8.04	0
34	Switzerland CH	2.29	0
35	Netherlands NL	1.33	0
36	Poland PL	0.7	0
37	Austria AT	0.02	0
38	Italy IT	0.01	0
39	Belgium BE	0	0
40	Norway NO	0	0

Kenya's Sharp Rebound in 2023

Kenya added 30,784 tonnes between 2022 and 2023, up 126.9 percent. Saudi Arabia added 5,628 tonnes, up 9.9 percent, and China added 2,724 tonnes, up 8.1 percent. Egypt lost 4,150 tonnes, down 16.9 percent, Niger lost 2,601 tonnes, down 17.0 percent, and Mongolia shed 1,365 tonnes, down 9.1 percent. The countries with a value in both years rose from 357,800 tonnes to 397,324 tonnes, up 39,525 tonnes, or 11.0 percent, and every reporting country appears in both years.

Camel Meat Supply Falls Over Five Years

Between 2019 and 2023, the 39 countries with a value in both years eased from 412,377 tonnes to 397,324 tonnes, down 15,053 tonnes, or 3.7 percent. Saudi Arabia recorded the largest decline, losing 46,076 tonnes, down 42.4 percent. Kenya shed 24,807 tonnes, down 31.1 percent, and Uzbekistan gave up 580 tonnes, down 29.6 percent. Algeria added 10,220 tonnes, up 179.5 percent, the Emirates added 10,608 tonnes, up 38.8 percent, and China added 11,022 tonnes, up 43.4 percent. Norway entered the comparison with a 2023 value and no 2019 value, while Ghana, Greece, Maldives, Slovenia and Spain left it.

Mauritania Leads Camel Meat Supply per Person

Mauritania recorded 15.43 grams a day in 2023, ahead of Mongolia at 10.89 grams in second and Oman at 9.94 grams in third. The Emirates sat fourth at 9.77 grams. Mauritania therefore ranks first per person even though its national total is below those of the volume leaders.

What the Camel Meat Data Measures

Meat of camels, fresh or chilled, available for human consumption is recorded in tonnes and in grams per person per day for each reporting country over 2019-2023. Annual totals sum reporting countries only, and the listed total is not a world figure that includes regional aggregates. Total tonnage shows the scale of reported food supply, while grams per person per day adjust the figures for population size.

Of the 45 country rows, 40 reported a value in 2023 and 38 of those were above zero; Belgium and Norway reported zero. A reported zero is a recorded value and a blank cell is missing data, so the five rows without a 2023 value cannot be read as zero supply.

Meat of Camels, Fresh or Chilled Consumption by Country

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#	Country	2019 (t)	2019 (g/cap/d)	2020 (t)	2020 (g/cap/d)	2021 (t)	2021 (g/cap/d)	2022 (t)	2022 (g/cap/d)	2023 (t)	2023 (g/cap/d)
1	Saudi Arabia	108.62K	9.77	100.03K	8.84	60.55K	5.3	56.92K	4.85	62.55K	5.15
2	Kenya	79.86K	4.27	61.26K	3.21	39.03K	2.01	24.27K	1.23	55.05K	2.73
3	United Arab Emirates	27.35K	7.99	35.41K	10.27	37.04K	10.37	36.61K	9.79	37.96K	9.77
4	China	25.42K	0.05	25.97K	0.05	28.76K	0.06	33.72K	0.06	36.44K	0.07
5	Ethiopia	33.68K	0.8	32.76K	0.75	34.73K	0.78	34.24K	0.75	34.12K	0.73
6	Mauritania	25.82K	15.84	22.09K	13.16	26.85K	15.53	27.85K	15.65	28.3K	15.43
7	Egypt	11.49K	0.29	9.3K	0.23	23.51K	0.58	24.57K	0.6	20.42K	0.49
8	Oman	15.93K	9.5	16.58K	10.05	17.21K	10.47	16.21K	9.39	18.33K	9.94
9	Algeria	5.69K	0.36	6.44K	0.4	6.92K	0.42	15.14K	0.91	15.91K	0.94
10	Mongolia	12.55K	10.63	16.98K	14.13	13.16K	10.79	15K	12.14	13.64K	10.89
11	Turkmenistan	10.58K	4.26	12.67K	5	14.79K	5.71	13.24K	5.02	12.86K	4.78
12	Niger	10.73K	1.28	12.16K	1.4	13.22K	1.48	15.31K	1.66	12.71K	1.33
13	Kazakhstan	6.51K	0.93	6.43K	0.9	6.96K	0.97	8.09K	1.11	8.02K	1.08
14	Iran	4.57K	0.14	4.02K	0.13	5.05K	0.16	4.62K	0.14	6.44K	0.19
15	Pakistan	5.6K	0.07	5.51K	0.06	5.67K	0.06	5.69K	0.06	5.82K	0.06
16	Libya	4.6K	1.81	5.71K	2.22	3.28K	1.26	6.34K	2.41	5.6K	2.1
17	Morocco	4.61K	0.35	4.3K	0.32	3.59K	0.27	3.12K	0.23	4.54K	0.33
18	Afghanistan	3.64K	0.26	3.68K	0.26	3.63K	0.25	3.67K	0.25	3.68K	0.24
19	Yemen	3.08K	0.24	2.76K	0.21	3.24K	0.24	2.55K	0.18	2.98K	0.21
20	Kuwait	2.92K	1.8	2.16K	1.35	3.43K	2.15	2.64K	1.58	2.97K	1.68
21	Iraq	1.69K	0.13	1.7K	0.13	1.87K	0.14	2.02K	0.15	2.1K	0.15
22	Tunisia	1.46K	0.34	1.48K	0.34	1.48K	0.34	1.48K	0.33	1.48K	0.33
23	Uzbekistan	1.96K	0.16	1.82K	0.15	1.8K	0.14	1.4K	0.11	1.38K	0.11
24	Qatar	1.45K	1.42	1.41K	1.38	1.38K	1.34	302.16	0.29	1.16K	1.06
25	Jordan	666.12	0.17	721.27	0.18	723.41	0.18	756.74	0.18	761	0.18
26	Djibouti	638.33	1.61	639.12	1.58	681.41	1.67	692.23	1.67	663.35	1.58
27	Syria	669.92	0.09	663.95	0.09	491.7	0.06	444.14	0.05	510.47	0.06
28	Burkina Faso	260.79	0.03	265.94	0.03	436	0.05	444	0.05	453.12	0.05
29	Bahrain	91.02	0.17	91.07	0.17	229.5	0.42	235.09	0.42	243.96	0.43
30	Russia	130.17	0	122.66	0	112.08	0	107.1	0	109.92	0
31	Israel	86.63	0.03	87.35	0.03	87.38	0.03	87.65	0.03	88.01	0.03
32	Senegal	6	0	22.52	0	21	0	22	0	20.11	0
33	Germany	6.31	0	1.07	0	1.13	0	0.15	0	8.04	0
34	Switzerland	3.77	0	2.21	0	0.62	0	0.13	0	2.29	0
35	Netherlands	1.49	0	0.44	0	1.87	0	1.32	0	1.33	0
36	Poland	1.6	0	1.56	0	-	-	0	0	0.7	0
37	Austria	0.01	0	0	0	0.09	0	0	0	0.02	0
38	Italy	0	0	0.51	0	-	-	0	0	0.01	0
39	Belgium	0	0	9.34	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
40	Norway	-	-	0.02	0	-	-	0	0	0	0
41	Greece	1.7	0	2.41	0	-	-	-	-	-	-
42	Maldives	0	0	2.01	0.01	-	-	-	-	-	-
43	Spain	1.9	0	1.06	0	1.62	0	-	-	-	-
44	Slovenia	0.02	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
45	Ghana	0.01	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Methodology

The data come from FAOSTAT Supply Utilization Accounts, using element 5141 for food supply quantity in tonnes and element 665 for food supply quantity in grams per capita per day, for meat of camels, fresh or chilled, over 2019-2023. Of the 45 country rows, 40 reported a value in 2023 and 38 of those were above zero. Comparisons between two years use only countries with values at both endpoints, which gives the same set of countries for 2022-2023 and 39 of them for 2019-2023, and the country count and both totals come from that shared set. Percentage changes use the earlier year's value as the base and are not calculated when that base-year value is zero. Reported zeros are kept as values, blank cells are treated as missing data, and values under 1,000 tonnes are shown to two decimals.