Dubai’s diamond trade grows 2% to $38bn in 2023

Thomson Reuters/Denis Balibouse

Dubai’s trade in rough and polished diamonds rose 2 percent year on year to $38 billion, making the emirate one of the world’s largest trading centres for the precious gems.

The free zone registered a five-year compound annual growth rate of 11 percent, Dubai Media Office reported, citing a statement from the Dubai Multi-Commodities Centre (DMCC).

The value of polished diamonds traded in the UAE in 2023 grew 32 percent year on year to just under $17 billion, with the emirate accounting for 44 percent of the total trade value.

---

---

This will be further buoyed in 2024 following the Gemological Institute of America, an independent diamond-grading body, opening a laboratory last month.

A total of $21-billion-worth of rough diamonds were traded in the UAE in the same year.

Despite the global price of rough diamonds decreasing by 20 percent in 2023, the rough diamond trade only fell 13 percent year on year by value but maintained strong trading volumes.

• Dubai becomes the centre of the Rolls-Royce universe
• Diamonds (from a lab) are the Gulf’s best friend
• UAE’s non-oil trade hits all-time high of $953bn

“These figures are further proof of Dubai’s meteoric rise as a global diamond trade hub,” Ahmed bin Sulayem, executive chairman and CEO, DMCC, said.

“The polished segment now represents almost half of our diamond trade, consolidating our status as the world’s number one hub for rough and polished and, with major industry players continuing to be drawn to Dubai away from the old hubs of yesterday.”

The value of lab-grown diamonds traded rose 10 percent year on year to $1.6 billion in 2023.