Dubai has pulled off something it has never done before: setting records for both the value and the physical volume of its diamond trade in the same year. New figures released by Dubai Customs and the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) put the 2025 diamond trade at 41.7 billion dollars, beating the previous high of 40.9 billion dollars set back in 2011. Alongside that, the emirate moved 359.5 million carats of diamonds, up 42.5 percent year on year.
For a B2B audience watching Dubai's trade infrastructure story, the headline number matters less than the pattern behind it. Trade value climbed 16.2 percent from 35.8 billion dollars in 2024. Coloured gemstones, a smaller but fast-growing category, jumped 48 percent to reach 1.1 billion dollars. Growth is broadening, not just repeating.
The five-year trend line that matters more than one good year
Since 2020, the diamond trade routed through Dubai has grown 139 percent in value and doubled in volume. That is the number DMCC leadership keeps returning to, because a single record year can be a blip, but a five-year compounding trend signals something structural about how the industry views Dubai as a hub.
Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman and CEO of DMCC, framed the 2025 results as validation of a long-term strategy built around transparency, regulatory certainty, and access to finance. He pointed to natural polished diamond value alone growing 246 percent since the pandemic era, a figure that speaks to Dubai's shift from a transit point to a genuine value-adding trading centre.
Dubai diamond and gemstone trade, 2025 versus prior periods
| Metric | 2025 Figure | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Total diamond trade value | $41.7 billion | +16.2% year on year |
| Total carats traded | 359.5 million carats | +42.5% year on year |
| Natural diamond share of value | $39.9 billion (95.8%) | Largest single contributor |
| Natural polished diamonds | $18.7 billion | +25% year on year |
| Coloured gemstones | $1.1 billion | +48% year on year |
| Growth since 2020 | Value +139%, volume +100% | Five year trend |
Why this matters for Dubai's wider trade ecosystem
Natural diamonds remain the backbone of the sector, accounting for 95.8 percent of total trade value at 39.9 billion dollars. But the coloured gemstone growth rate, nearly triple the pace of the overall market, points to diversification inside DMCC's precious stones ecosystem rather than a single commodity story.
That diversification is worth watching alongside DMCC's broader build out of Uptown Dubai, the free zone district anchored by the Almas Tower, which was purpose built for the diamond trade and has become a physical symbol of the sector's scale. The infrastructure investment and the trade numbers are, in effect, two sides of the same growth strategy.
A record year in both value and volume signals depth, not just a price spike. For traders, logistics firms, and financial services providers plugged into DMCC's ecosystem, sustained five-year growth is a stronger signal than any single annual figure.
