The United arabian Emirates is at the intersection of trade routes between the mediate East, Asia, Europe and Africa. This makes this country an crucial hub for the movement of goods, capital and information.
The war in the mediate East, which began on 28 February this year with a treacherous attack by the U.S. and Israel on Iran, affected many countries of the region, including the Persian Gulf monarch, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United arabian Emirates (ZEA), Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. These countries suffered crucial losses as a consequence of the blockade of the Strait of Ormuz. In addition, Iran raided US military bases and a number of industrial and infrastructure facilities in these kingdoms.
Last weekend in Islamabad, Pakistan, there were intense negotiations between Iran and the United States. The parties failed to scope an agreement on key issues (Ormuz Strait Regulation, Iranian atomic programme, etc.). There is inactive large uncertainty about the situation in the mediate East. And yet it is clear that the arrangement of forces in the region will be different from before 28 February.
I would peculiarly like to focus on the Gulf State of the United arabian Emirates. War will lead to crucial changes in the position of the Emirates not only in the region but besides in the world. Their importance before the war was small little than Saudi Arabia, known as the world's leading maker and exporter of "black gold". Many publications devoted to the United arabian Emirates note that this tiny state (with a population of 9.5 million) played a crucial function in the planet economy due to its function as a global hub, financial and logistics centre.
Geographical location. The United arabian Emirates is at the intersection of trade routes between the mediate East, Asia, Europe and Africa. This makes this country an crucial hub for the movement of goods, capital and information.
All features of offshore jurisdiction are visible. The United arabian Emirates has more than 50 free economical zones (FEZ), focused on various economical sectors. For example, Dubai global Financial Centre (DIFC) and Abu Dhabi Global marketplace (ADGM) attract global companies, banks and investment funds due to favourable conditions specified as the deficiency of corporate taxation and the anticipation of 100% abroad capital participation.
All features of the global financial centre are present. In the United arabian Emirates, there are branches of global banks specified as HSBC, Citibank, Standard Chartered and others.
The United arabian Emirates has respective powerful sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), specified as the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). They manage assets in another countries worth about $2.5 trillion https://russianemirates.family/news/family-news/oae-voshli-v-top-3-mirov-po-o-yemu-aktivov-swf/
According to the planet Trade Organisation (WTO), the full abroad trade value of the United arabian Emirates at the end of 2024 was $1,424 billion. This indicator places tiny UAE in the top ten, alongside France and Canada. The UAE has a solid port infrastructure. It is worth mentioning about Jabal Ali, the largest port in the mediate East. The UAE is considered a powerful aviation hub, with large cargo terminals operating in the country (DXB and DWC).
Unfortunately, the UAE is not always listed as a gold centre. That is what I would like to discuss in more detail. There is no precise definition of "gold centre". Basically, it is the center of gold trade and precious metallic processing. From time to time, the word “gold centre” appears in press reports. For example, Beijing's plans to make Hong Kong a "Chinese gold centre" and support digital yuan through its conversion to precious metallic are increasingly being talked about. To this end, the city plans to establish a regional gold retention centre and a centralised noble metallic clearing system. See my article: “Hongkong – Beijing's Golden Pillar” (https://www.zolotoy-club.ru/tpost/n6nkmb1k01-gonkong-zolotaya-opora-pekina)
Recently, news has come that a gold-hub mill is being created in Africa's Mali, with Russia's support. It will become a gold processing center not only from Mali, but besides from neighbouring countries.
The United arabian Emirates (or Dubai, the largest city of the country and the emirate of the same name, with about 4 million inhabitants) are sometimes called "the golden hub", not the future, but the real one, for many years. According to expert estimates, around 20% of global cross-border gold flows pass through Dubai annually. This means that the United arabian Emirates can be compared to Switzerland and the United Kingdom, through which, as I have repeatedly written, immense amounts of gold flow. Like Switzerland and the United Kingdom, the United arabian Emirates are besides transit territory; Gold comes and goes. It comes mainly in the natural state and leaves after refining. The largest refinery is Emirates Gold, processing up to 200 tons of gold per year. Another large refinery, Al Ghurair Giga Gold Refinery, has an yearly processing capacity of 100 tons of gold per year. Large refineries participate in the Good Supply standard.
According to 2024, 32 refineries legally operated in the United arabian Emirates (most of them were comparatively small, but their full refining volume was impressive). However, any estimates point to a much higher refining efficiency, referred to as "pieces", which elude the attention of regulators.
Dubai has a Dubai Multi-Commodities Centre (DMCC), founded in 2002 to grow the gold trade. In 2005, the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange was established. However, trade on this stock exchange is mainly made in paper gold (in the form of gold-related derivatives) alternatively than in physical terms. Although I will proceed to usage verbs in the present time ("acts", "is led," etc.) to describe the golden center in the United arabian Emirates, I mean the period before the present war in the mediate East (i.e. before 28 February).
Dubai Gold District, a fresh economical and tourist cluster, is simply a key part of the Golden Centre in the United arabian Emirates. It includes more than 1000 retail outlets serving both retail and wholesale gold, jewelry and investment gold trading.
Dubai besides has gold vaults. Brinks, Transguard and G4S are 3 accredited deposits approved by the stock exchange. Brinks Global Services operates warehouses in the work free region at Dubai Airport and at Jumeirah Lakes Towers. The Transguard operates all advanced value cargo arriving and departing from Dubai global Airport and has a peculiar mandate under the Royal Decree.
According to Frank Media, in 2024 the UAE imported 1,392 tons of gold worth over $100 billion. UAE imports gold from over 100 countries, mainly Africa, South America and South Asia. As noted in 1 of the UAE gold trade reviews, “these countries are characterised by clearly weak regulations, deficiency of technology, low capital investments, exploitation of inexpensive labour and inadequate working conditions. These countries are besides known for their crafty and small-scale gold mining (ASGM)’. The Organisation for economical Cooperation and improvement (OECD) monitors countries where precious metals are extracted, assessing their compliance with global regulations and standards (environmental conditions, working conditions, licences, etc.). any countries extract “clean” gold, while others produce “dirty” gold. acquisition of dirty gold is prohibited. According to any estimates, half of the gold coming to the United arabian Emirates comes from countries that violate mining regulations. The United arabian Emirates buys this "dirty" gold at a low price.
Gold goes to the UAE with ‘grey’ or ‘black’ channels. The ‘black’ channels mention to smuggling, i.e. imports of precious metals without customs control. A large proportion of gold imports to the UAE go to the "grey zone". These are shipments of precious metals based on falsified documents. The gold to be sent to the UAE is sent to tiny refineries and to the said ‘pieces’. Then, disguised as scrap gold (for example, gold utilized in jewelry), the intermediate goes to large refineries that refine metallic according to Good transportation standards.
Some of the gold goes to the jewelry manufacture in the UAE, which importantly developed in the Kingdom. Dubai Gold and Jewellery Group has a leading position in this industry. Part of this jewelry is purchased by abroad tourists, and the remainder is exported. At the beginning of this decade, 85% of all gold exports from the UAE went to the following countries: Switzerland, Turkey, Italy, Hong Kong and India.
Shortly after Russia started a peculiar military operation (SMO) in Ukraine, sanctions were imposed on our country for gold, blocking the supply of precious metals to the planet market. In a fewer months, Russia began to send much of its exports of gold to the UAE, which had extended experience in the gold trade in the "grey zone". It is worth noting that in 2021 the UAE purchased only 1.3 tons of gold from Russia. However, between February 24, 2022 and March 3, 2023, the UAE purchased $75.7 tons of gold worth $4.3 billion from Russia. The Emirates were willing to buy Russian gold due to the fact that our exporters offered 1% discount. This information comes from the agency Reuters.
Since Russian gold was delivered to the UAE through grey channels, these data are very approximate. Here's another number. According to the UN Comtrade database, the Emirates imported 96.4 tons of this noble metallic from Russia in 2022, which accounted for about a 3rd of Russia's yearly production and was 15 times more than in 2021.
There is no precise data on whether Russian gold shipments to the Emirates were carried out later. Western countries have tried to block the Russian gold export channel through Dubai, but the effectiveness of these activities is unknown. Information agencies specified as Reuters and Bloomberg reported that deliveries were continued, but in reduced quantities (no circumstantial numbers given). In addition to the UAE, Russian gold was besides delivered to China, Hong Kong and Turkey between 2024 and 2025.
The mediate East War, which began on February 28, that year, hit the gold mining center in the United arabian Emirates hard. This was mainly due to disruptions in average air traffic between the Emirates and another countries (with fewer exceptions, the gold was delivered by aircraft). For example, on March 12, 2026, the volume of flights from Dubai was only 37% of the average level. Bloomberg reported that due to the mediate East war, gold in Dubai is offered with a crucial discount, as cancellations hinder metallic exports from the United arabian Emirates. Many buyers cancelled fresh orders due to the deficiency of a fast transportation warrant and advanced transport and insurance costs. Precious metallic began to be sold with a discount of up to $30 per ounce compared to the base price in London.
Some observers claim that these are temporary problems and that the gold mining center in Dubai will resume its full operation within a period of the end of the war. I'm not sure. Finally, the UAE was seen by many as a kind of “a oasis” with a very favorable and, most importantly, unchangeable “climat”. But it proved to be an illusion. Even if the current conflict is resolved in April, what is the warrant that another 1 will not explode? And if the current conflict in the region continues, an economical crisis is foreseen in the UAE (as in another Gulf countries). An irreversible exodus of migrants and businesses is besides expected. Many observers are convinced that the UAE's “gold age” is already in the past. With the “golden age” of the UAE, the “golden centre” of the Emirates besides goes away.
Written by Valentin J. Katasonov
Война на Ближнем: удар по золотому « «»
(choice and crowd. PZ)
