Dubai Multi Commodities Centre achieves record growth

The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) Authority has announced that it achieved its best year on record, attracting 2,485 companies, representing 146 geographies, to Dubai in 2021. The record-breaking performance follows on from the 2,025 companies that joined the business district in 2020.

The growth was fuelled by strong international demand, the expansion of its commodities centres and the launch of the DMCC Crypto Centre. DMCC also attracted companies from a diverse range of sectors in key target markets, including China, US, UK and Russia, indicating the emirate’s continued commercial appeal, and the ease of setting up and doing business at DMCC.

Ahmed Bin Sulayem, executive chairman and chief executive officer, DMCC, said: “With our sights set firmly on positioning Dubai as the pre-eminent place to do business in any sector, DMCC has seen substantial growth across all aspects of the business. This unprecedented performance is reflective of the value that DMCC provides to its member companies through its facilities and services, and the significant progress we are making in emerging sectors such as crypto.”

DMCC records best year since inception, attracting 2,485 companies to Dubai in 2021. With over 20,000 members in our award-winning hub, the growth reflects our business district’s continued appeal to companies of all sizes and industries. https://t.co/3rBLBOL08c pic.twitter.com/1qCrXZ7I7H

— DMCC (@DMCCAuthority) January 10, 2022

Launched in May last year, the DMCC Crypto Centre is an ecosystem for businesses operating in the cryptographic and blockchain sectors. DMCC is also working on establishing the largest precious metals refinery and storage facility across the GCC and the first to be completely enabled by blockchain in the GCC. The facility will refine and store precious metals including gold, silver, platinum, palladium and rhodium.

Read: Dubai fintech firm iBloxx gets DMCC crypto trading licence

In April 2021, DMCC announced plans to add a dedicated Cacao Centre and other commodity trade centres including meat, honey and saffron.

The DMCC CEO added: “Given the incredible momentum that the DMCC team has collectively achieved this year, I’m convinced that 2022 will feature major milestones, including the completion of Uptown Tower.”

Scheduled for delivery in Q3 2022, in in DMCC’s premium Uptown Dubai mixed-use district, Uptown Tower is now over 270m tall.

Other highlights of the past year included the Dubai Diamond Exchange, the world’s largest diamond tender facility, holding 68 diamond and precious stone tenders. DMCC also convened more than 300 of the world’s top gold experts at the Dubai Precious Metals Conference, which sought to identify current market opportunities within the precious metals sector.

The DMCC Tea Centre handled over 35,580 metric tonnes of tea, with an overall value addition volume of 6,482 metric tonnes, representing a 14 per cent increase from 2020. The DMCC Coffee Centre, on the other hand, stored and processed more than 9,000 metric tonnes of both green and roasted coffee from a broad range of producing markets across Central and Southern America, Asia and Africa. The Centre also doubled its membership count.

Another milestone achieved saw DMCC Tradeflow, a fully digital and interactive ownership registry, recording a total value of Dhs1.1 trillion, a 48 per cent increase over 2020.

Feryal Ahmadi, chief operating officer, DMCC, said, “We have a number of exciting projects in the pipeline for 2022, including DMCC’s landmark Dubai Diamond Conference in just seven weeks, and the launch of the next edition of our flagship Future of Trade report later in the year.”

DMCC has launched two special editions of its Future of Trade thought leadership series. The crypto-specific edition focuses on the decentralised finance sector and its impact on trade.