Yet another day and yet another reason to rejoice for the citizens of the UAE. 

The UAE has overtaken Belgium in becoming the top trading hub for rough diamonds in 2021. An estimate indicates that $22.8 billion of rough diamonds were traded through the Emirates and projects a constant growth.

The growth in the rough diamond trade has been around 76 per cent since 2015, which went even higher to 83 per cent between 2020 and 2021, a statement from the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) CEO’s office said.

Good relationship with mining countries and countries with manufacturing centres  in Africa and India have played a great role and boosted the growth of diamond trading in the global sector for the UAE. Also, Dubai is well connected to the diamond hubs with flights running back and forth. Additionally, the two Kimberly Process (KP) offices only operate in Dubai, giving a major advantage by making the country the lone entry point for rough diamonds.

Angola is a key industry player and has exported around 90 per cent of its rough diamonds to the UAE in the last couple of years, said Diamantino Azevedo, minister of mineral resources, oil and gas of Angola. 

This was announced in this year’s Dubai Diamond conference, which happened to be sold out and was attended by 550 officials as well as attendees from miners to retailers.

So, how about dubbing the UAE a diamond destination?