The Gulf state last year overtook Belgium to become the world’s top trading hub for rough diamonds, according to the head of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), home to the Dubai Diamond Exchange.

Over $22.8 billion of rough diamonds were traded through Dubai in 2021, Ahmed Bin Sulayem, DMCC chief executive and executive chairman said, adding that the polished diamond sector continues to grow.

Since 2015, the United Arab Emirates’ rough diamond trade has grown by 76 percent a statement from the DMCC CEO’s office said.

Belgium’s trade also bounced back in 2021, with $37.23 billion in imports and exports of traded diamonds in the full year 2021 (up 0.32 percent over 2019′s $37.11 billion), according to the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC).

The AWDC figures did not break out the value of the rough diamond trade, but responded to BoF’s requests for comments with a statement that read in part: “Dubai and Antwerp have a very different way of working. For example, they ... do not apply the same standards of compliance and due diligence, resulting in the absence of transparent, comparable or independent data.”

“What we do know is that with $37 billion in rough and polished trade, we can say safely that we surpass the estimated $31.96 billion of total trade (polished and rough) from Dubai and that Antwerp remains the biggest market for diamond trade,” the AWDC statement added.

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