Setup guide
How to start a trading company in the UAE
Trading needs a commercial licence. The decisive question is whether you sell inside the UAE or export: a free zone trading company cannot sell directly into the UAE domestic market without a mainland distributor or branch. Free zone trading licences typically run AED 15,000–35,000 in year one; mainland is higher once tenancy is counted.
What it costs
The cost drivers for this trade.
The UAE's re-export economy runs on a logistics market of roughly USD 65bn and a port handling 15.5m TEU. Trading is the country's foundational business activity and the infrastructure reflects a century of it.
Figures on this page
UAE logistics market estimated around USD 65bn in 2025, forecast to roughly USD 112bn by 2035 (5.5% CAGR). Jebel Ali handled 15.5 million TEU in 2024. Road freight accounts for about 46% of the market and Dubai for about 39%.
Market research aggregates and DP World reporting, 2024–25
How the business makes money here
Buy low, sell higher, and finance the gap. Margins are thin and working capital is the constraint — a trading company's growth rate is limited by how much stock it can fund. Credit terms from suppliers and to customers determine whether the business scales or stalls.
What it costs to start
Published "from" prices compare licence fees and ignore everything that actually moves the total. These are the variables that decide what a trading & distribution business pays in year one.
- General vs specific trading
- A general trading licence covers most unrestricted goods and costs meaningfully more than a licence naming one commodity class. Buy the narrow one unless you genuinely need breadth.
- Customs client code
- A separate registration against the licence, required before you can import anything. Small fee, frequently forgotten, discovered at the port.
- Warehousing
- The largest variable. A desk-based trading company and one holding stock are different businesses financially.
- Product approvals
- Food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, electronics and telecom equipment each carry registration costs per product line, not per licence.
We quote a single all-in figure with every government fee itemised beside our own, before you commit. Ranges published anywhere — including here — are indicative.
Why here
Regional advantages
Genuine re-export infrastructure
Customs suspension in free zones, deep port and air cargo capacity, and established onward routes to Africa, South Asia and Central Asia.
Buyers come here to source
Deira, Dragon Mart and the free zones attract international buyers, which means demand arrives rather than being pursued.
Currency stability
The dirham's dollar peg removes a variable that complicates trading in most emerging markets.
And the other side
Regional disadvantages
Working capital is the binding constraint
Thin margins on funded stock means growth consumes cash. Undercapitalised traders stall regardless of demand.
Domestic market is closed from a free zone
Selling into the UAE requires a mainland distributor or branch, and the margin loss is permanent.
Product approvals per SKU
Food, cosmetics, electronics and medical goods each carry registration that is measured in weeks per line.
Approvals
Beyond the trade licence.
- Foodstuffs
- Municipality food control in the emirate of import, plus product registration.
- Pharmaceuticals and medical devices
- Ministry of Health and Prevention, with product-by-product registration.
- Cosmetics and supplements
- Municipality and MoHAP registration before first import.
- Telecom and radio equipment
- TDRA type-approval for anything that transmits.
- Chemicals, arms, tobacco
- Restricted lists with their own federal approvals — assume months, not weeks.
The sequence
How the setup runs.
Confirm the activity and the licence category
Map what you actually do onto the authority's activity schedule and identify any external approval it triggers, before a name is reserved or a fee is paid.
Choose the jurisdiction
Free zone or mainland, decided by who receives your invoices — then narrowed by visa quota, premises need and cost.
Reserve the trade name and obtain initial approval
Three candidate names checked against the register and the naming rules, then initial approval confirming no objection to you owning this business.
Prepare and notarise the incorporation documents
Memorandum of association, shareholder resolutions, attestations where required, and a power of attorney if you are not in the country.
Take the licence, establishment card and immigration file
The company now exists, can contract and can sponsor residence visas.
Complete residence, banking and registrations
Medical and Emirates ID, corporate bank account, corporate tax registration and any VAT, ESR or UBO obligation the structure carries.
Shortlist
Where to license it.
Four worth looking at for this activity, and why each one is on the list. All 23 are in the finder.
Questions
Not directly. A free zone company selling into the UAE domestic market normally needs a mainland distributor or its own mainland branch. Selling to other free zone companies, or exporting, is unrestricted.
A licence permitting trade in most unrestricted goods rather than one named commodity class. It costs more than a specific trading licence and is worth it only if you genuinely deal across categories.
Yes. A customs client code is registered against your trade licence with the customs authority of the emirate you import through. It is separate from the licence and must exist before your first shipment lands.
One question
Who will be paying your invoices?
Textbook free zone. Re-export through JAFZA, SAIF or KEZAD without the goods entering the domestic market is exactly what customs suspension was designed for, and the duty saving is real.
Compare the two routesOr just ask usDomestic distribution and last-mile delivery are mainland transport activities requiring emirate transport authority permits. A free zone licence covers the international leg and stops at the zone gate.
Compare the two routesOr just ask usMost forwarders end up with both — a free zone entity for the international movement and a mainland partner or branch for domestic distribution. Structuring that deliberately beats discovering it.
Answer five questions insteadOr just ask us