Trading & distribution
How to start a gold trading company in Dubai
Gold and precious metals trading in Dubai centres on DMCC, and carries anti-money-laundering obligations that ordinary trading does not. Dealers in precious metals and stones are a designated non-financial business under UAE AML law.
The market
What the sector actually looks like.
Dubai handles roughly 20% of global physical gold supply and is the second largest physical gold hub in the world after Switzerland. UAE foreign trade in precious metals reached close to AED 625bn in 2024 — up 27% in a year and 79% over two. This is not an emerging market; it is one of the deepest bullion centres anywhere.
Figures on this page
UAE foreign trade in precious metals reached close to AED 625bn (about USD 170bn) in 2024, up 27% year on year and 79% over two years. Dubai handles roughly 20% of global physical gold supply and is the second largest physical gold hub after Switzerland.
DMCC and UAE trade data, 2024
How the business actually makes money
Margins per gram are extremely thin and volume is everything, which means working capital and financing cost decide profitability more than trading skill does. Refining, vaulting and logistics costs sit between spot and your realised price. The businesses that endure have either a genuine sourcing relationship or a manufacturing and retail arm where the margin is materially better than pure trading.
Why here
Regional advantages
Unmatched depth of infrastructure
Refineries, vaults, assayers, the DMCC ecosystem and DGCX for hedging all sit within a few kilometres of each other.
Established sourcing and offtake routes
Africa, South Asia and Central Asia inbound; the subcontinent and Europe outbound. The trade routes exist and the counterparties are known.
Regulatory maturity is now an asset
The UAE's tightening of responsible sourcing and AML in this sector has raised the floor, which protects compliant traders from the reputational damage of the sector's past.
And the other side
Regional disadvantages
The heaviest AML burden of any trade on this site
Dealers in precious metals are designated non-financial businesses. You take on a compliance officer, customer due diligence and goAML reporting as a condition of trading.
Banks scrutinise this sector hardest
A weak compliance file will close a precious metals account rather than merely delay it, and replacing a closed account in this sector is very difficult.
Enormous working capital requirement
Thin margins on high-value stock means capital tied up constantly. Financing cost is a primary determinant of whether the business works.
Why this is different
Not just trading & distribution.
You take on a compliance function as a condition of trading: a registered AML officer, customer due diligence, and suspicious transaction reporting through the national system.
Approvals beyond the trade licence
Trade licence with precious metals activity, DMCC membership where relevant, AML registration on goAML, appointed compliance officer, and the OECD due diligence expectations that responsible sourcing now carries.
Where to license it
The trading & distribution activity in full · The general setup guide
Questions
Not a separate licence, but you must register on the national goAML system, appoint a compliance officer and conduct customer due diligence. Dealers in precious metals and stones are designated non-financial businesses under UAE AML law.
Geography between producing and consuming regions, a deep cluster of refineries, vaults and assayers around DMCC, and historic trade routes. Dubai handles roughly 20% of global physical gold supply.
Margins per gram are thin and the business is capital-intensive. Profitability comes from volume, financing cost and sourcing relationships rather than from trading acumen alone.
One question
Who will be paying your invoices?
The classic free zone case, and DMCC exists for precisely this. Bullion and commodity re-export moves through Dubai at scale, and the compliance infrastructure around it is mature.
Compare the two routesOr just ask usRetail jewellery sales to UAE consumers are a mainland activity with municipality permits, which is a different business from wholesale bullion trading.
Compare the two routesOr just ask usTrading and retail are separate activities even within the same group, and the AML obligations attach to both. Structure them deliberately.
Answer five questions insteadOr just ask us