Starting a jewellery business in the UAE: prospects and licensing

Few industries are as closely tied to the UAE's identity as gold and jewellery. Dubai has been called the City of Gold for a reason, and the country sits at the centre of one of the largest precious metals trades on earth. For a founder, that reputation is not just heritage. It is a live, growing market with deep supply chains, strong tourist demand, and a clear regulatory path to entry.

This guide is written for entrepreneurs who want to enter the jewellery industry in the UAE, whether that means opening a retail store, building an online brand, trading gold and diamonds, or manufacturing and designing pieces. It covers the opportunity, the ways to enter, and the specific licence and compliance steps you need to get started properly.

At And Again Advisory, we help founders and investors turn a business idea into a licensed, bankable, and compliant UAE company. The jewellery sector rewards preparation, so this is the map we would talk through with you before you commit.

01Why the UAE is a jewellery powerhouse

The opportunity starts with scale. The UAE jewellery market was valued at roughly USD 4.66 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach around USD 7.65 billion by 2033, growing at about 5.8 percent a year, with gold making up more than half of all sales (Grand View Research). Behind the retail market sits an even larger trade. In 2024, the UAE's foreign trade in precious metals reached approximately AED 625 billion (about USD 170 billion), and Dubai is the second largest physical gold trading hub in the world after Switzerland (DMCC).

A handful of structural advantages keep this market attractive for new entrants:

• A genuine trading hub. Dubai connects gold producing regions in Africa and Asia with consuming markets worldwide, supported by refineries, vaults, logistics, and the DMCC free zone, home to more than 1,500 precious metals, stones, and diamond companies.
• Tourism demand. The Deira Gold Souk and modern mall retailers draw millions of visitors, and jewellery is one of the most recognisable things tourists buy in Dubai.
• A favourable tax setting. No personal income tax, a competitive 9 percent corporate tax with a generous threshold, and VAT relief mechanisms for qualifying gold trades keep margins workable.
• Trust and standards. Strong hallmarking and consumer protection rules give buyers confidence in purity, which supports premium pricing.
• Global connectivity. World-class ports, airports, and re-export infrastructure make the UAE a natural base for selling beyond its own borders.

The UAE does not just sell jewellery. It is one of the places the world comes to trade it.

02The main ways to enter the industry

Jewellery is not one business, it is several. The route you choose shapes your licence, your capital needs, and your location. Most founders enter through one of these models:

Many successful jewellery businesses eventually blend these models, for example a branded retailer that also manufactures and sells online. It is usually cleaner to start with one clear model, get licensed correctly, and expand your activities later.

03Mainland or free zone: choosing your route

This is the decision that shapes everything else. In simple terms, a mainland licence is issued by the emirate's economic department, for example Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism, and lets you sell directly to the local UAE market and open a shop anywhere in the emirate. A free zone licence, for example through DMCC, gives you a specialist ecosystem and an export and international trading focus, but selling directly into the local retail market usually requires a distributor or an agent.

There is no universally correct answer. A founder opening a single boutique in a Dubai mall and a founder building a bullion trading desk will make different, equally valid choices. The right route depends on who you sell to, where, and how you plan to bank and grow.

04The activities you can license

Your trade licence lists the specific activities you are allowed to carry out, and in this sector the wording matters. Operating outside your approved activity creates compliance and banking problems, so choose activities that match what you will actually do. Common jewellery and precious metals activities include:

• Trading in gold, precious metals, and bullion
• Trading in diamonds, pearls, and precious and semi precious stones
• Retail and trading of jewellery and ornaments
• Jewellery manufacturing, casting, and design or bespoke services
• Jewellery repair, plating, and related services
• Online sale of jewellery and accessories
• Brokerage or agency in precious metals and stones

Some activities carry extra conditions or need approvals beyond the base licence. Bullion trading, refining, and high value dealing in particular come with stricter regulatory expectations, which we cover in the anti-money laundering section below.

05How to get your licence, step by step

The process is well established and, with complete documents, can move quickly. The exact portal and order differ slightly between mainland and free zone, but the shape is consistent:

• Define your model and activities. Decide whether you are retail, trading, manufacturing, or online, and select the matching activities.
• Choose mainland or a free zone. This sets your authority, your premises options, and your market access.
• Reserve a trade name. Pick a compliant name and reserve it with the relevant authority.
• Secure premises. A registered tenancy for mainland, or a desk, office, or retail unit within a free zone. Retail typically needs municipality approval.
• Submit the application. Provide shareholder passports, visa or entry details, the trade name reservation, premises documents, and any activity specific approvals.
• Pay fees and receive the licence. Once approved, you receive your trade licence and, where relevant, your establishment card.
• Register for what comes next. Corporate bank account, customs code if you import or export, VAT where required, and goAML registration as a dealer in precious metals and stones.
• Set up compliance and renew. Put anti-money laundering procedures in place from day one, then track your annual renewals.

06What it costs to start

Costs vary widely with your model, your emirate, your premises, and how many visas you need, so treat any single number with caution. As an indicative planning guide only, founders often budget for:

• Licence and registration fees, commonly in the region of AED 10,000 to AED 25,000 depending on authority and activities, with free zone packages sometimes starting around AED 20,000.
• Premises, from a modest flexi-desk to a mall or souk retail unit, which is often the largest and most variable cost.
• Visas for owners and staff, plus establishment card and medical and Emirates ID costs.
• Working capital and inventory, which in jewellery can dwarf the setup cost because stock is precious metal and stones.
• Compliance and professional setup, including anti-money laundering procedures, accounting, and insurance.

The honest headline is that the licence is rarely the expensive part. Inventory, premises, security, and working capital usually define your real budget. Build your plan around those, not around the advertised package price.

07Anti-money laundering and precious metals rules

This is the part first time founders most often underestimate, and it is not optional. Businesses that deal in gold, jewellery, and stones are treated as dealers in precious metals and stones, a category of designated non-financial business under UAE anti-money laundering law. In practice that means:

• Register on goAML. Dealers must register with the UAE Financial Intelligence Unit through the Ministry of Economy goAML portal. Businesses inside DIFC or ADGM follow their own regulators.
• Watch the AED 55,000 threshold. A single cash transaction, or several linked transactions, of AED 55,000 or more triggers customer due diligence and the filing of a Dealer in Precious Metals and Stones Report. The same reporting applies to qualifying wire transfers.
• Appoint a compliance officer and carry out an enterprise risk assessment.
• Know your customer. Verify identities, screen against United Nations and UAE sanctions and terrorist lists, and check for politically exposed persons.
• Keep records, generally for at least five years, and file suspicious transaction reports where needed.

Non-compliance is expensive. Fines for dealers who fail to register or report have been significant, and banks are increasingly strict with jewellery businesses that cannot show proper procedures. Setting this up correctly at the start protects both your licence and your banking relationship.

In this sector, your anti-money laundering file is as important as your trade licence.

08Hallmarking, purity, and consumer protection

Trust is the product in jewellery, and UAE regulators protect it closely. Precious metal items are expected to meet declared purity standards, and hallmarking and testing regimes exist to verify that what is stamped is what is sold. Buyers, especially tourists, rely on this assurance, and it is part of why UAE gold enjoys a strong reputation.

For a new business this means being accurate and honest about caratage and stone quality, keeping clear invoices and certificates, and following labelling and weighing standards. Getting this right is not just compliance, it is how you build repeat customers and a defensible brand.

09VAT and tax on gold and jewellery

Tax treatment in this sector has some useful nuances that are worth understanding before you price your products:

• Retail jewellery carries 5 percent VAT, charged on the full value including making charges when you sell to consumers.
• A reverse charge mechanism applies to qualifying business to business sales of gold and precious metals between VAT registered companies. The seller does not collect VAT at the point of sale, the registered buyer accounts for it instead, which eases cash flow in the trade.
• Investment grade gold, meaning bars, ingots, or coins of at least 99 percent purity traded in global markets, can be zero rated in defined business to business cases. Retail jewellery does not qualify.
• Tourist VAT refunds allow eligible visitors to reclaim VAT on qualifying purchases exported within 90 days, which supports tourist facing retailers.
• Corporate tax of 9 percent applies to taxable profits above AED 375,000, with possible relief on qualifying free zone income, subject to the applicable rules.

10Common mistakes to avoid

• Choosing the wrong route. Taking a free zone licence and then discovering you needed direct local retail access, or the reverse.
• Licensing the wrong activities. Selling or manufacturing outside your approved activities, which creates banking and renewal problems.
• Treating anti-money laundering as an afterthought. Skipping goAML registration and procedures is one of the fastest ways to attract fines and lose banking.
• Underestimating working capital. Inventory in this sector is expensive, and thin capital is a common reason new jewellers stall.
• Weak banking preparation. Jewellery and precious metals face closer scrutiny from banks, so a clear activity, source of funds, and compliance file matter.
• Ignoring purity and documentation standards, which damages trust and can breach consumer protection rules.

11Your jewellery business launch checklist

Use this as a practical starting point. Tick items as you complete them; your progress is saved on this device.

Final thought

The UAE jewellery industry offers something rare: a large, growing consumer market sitting on top of a world scale trading hub, with a clear licensing path and a trusted standards regime. The prospects are genuinely strong for founders who enter with the right structure and take compliance seriously from the first day.

The businesses that struggle are usually the ones that treated the licence as the finish line. The businesses that thrive treat it as the starting line, and build banking, anti-money laundering, and inventory discipline around it. At And Again Advisory, we help founders enter this sector the right way, from choosing the route to getting licensed, banked, and compliant.

12Frequently asked questions

Related reading and services:

• Free Zone vs Mainland guide
• The real cost of starting in Dubai
• Opening a corporate bank account
• Corporate tax for new companies
• First-year compliance checklist