Table of Contents
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Do I need approval to trade gold and precious metals?
Yes. This activity requires pre-approval from the Security Industry Regulatory Agency (SIRA) before Meydan Free Zone can issue the business license. Approval must be obtained before the licence is granted.
2. Is precious metals trading subject to AML rules?
Yes. Dealers in precious metals are classified as a Designated Non-Financial Business or Profession, requiring goAML registration, a designated compliance officer, customer due diligence, and suspicious transaction reporting.
3. How large is the UAE gold trade?
The UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade confirmed the total value of gold passing through the country reached USD 186 billion in 2024, making the UAE the second largest gold trading centre in the world.
4. Can I refine or assay metal under this licence?
No. Refining and assaying are manufacturing and testing activities that fall outside this scope. The licence covers trading metal in its existing bullion or semi-finished form.
5. Can I sell gold to retail customers?
No. Activity 4662.04 covers wholesale, business-to-business trade. Retail sale of gold or bullion to individual consumers falls under a separate retail classification.
6. What responsible sourcing rules apply?
The UAE operates mandatory due diligence aligned to OECD guidance on metals from conflict-affected areas, alongside annual audits and enhanced checks on suppliers importing from high-risk regions.
Topic Summary
UAE Is a Global Gold Trading Powerhouse
The UAE ranked as the second largest physical gold trading centre globally in 2024, with gold passing through the country valued at USD 186 billion. Gold alone accounts for roughly 48.6% of all UAE non-oil trade, making it the dominant commodity in the country's merchandise trade.
Understand What Activity 4662.04 Actually Covers
Activity 4662.04 licenses the wholesale, business-to-business trade of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in bulk forms such as bars, ingots, grain, and semi-finished products. It does not cover retail jewellery sales, refining, or assaying, so traders must ensure their operations stay within these defined boundaries.
Meydan Free Zone Simplifies the Licensing Process
Setting up under Meydan Free Zone gives precious metals wholesalers a structured path to obtaining the correct trade licence for Activity 4662.04. The free zone framework supports import, export, and re-export operations, which are central to how bullion traders operate in Dubai.
Compliance Is a Competitive Advantage, Not a Burden
The UAE has built a rigorous framework of anti-money laundering procedures, customer due diligence, annual audits, and OECD-aligned responsible sourcing checks. Traders who meet these standards gain access to global markets, since compliant UAE-traded metal moves freely across international borders.
Know the Full Range of Tradeable Precious Metals
Licensed wholesalers can trade investment and industrial grade gold bars, silver, platinum, palladium, semi-finished products like sheet and wire, and recovered or recycled precious metals destined for refiners. Each consignment must be supported by assay documentation and a clear chain of custody record.
Two Core Business Models Suit This Licence
The licence suits bullion dealers and precious metal traders who buy and sell in bulk between refiners, banks, and international counterparties, as well as businesses supplying semi-finished metal to jewellery manufacturers and industrial users. Both models compete on purity assurance, volume reliability, and settlement speed.
How to Start Gold & Diamond Trading in Dubai with Meydan Free Zone?
The wholesale of gold and other precious metals covers the bulk, business-to-business trade of bullion, bars, grain, and semi-finished precious metal products as they move between refiners, banks, manufacturers, and dealers. It is a volume trade built on purity, assay documentation, and secure logistics rather than on retail presentation. The UAE has spent two decades building itself into one of the two largest physical gold markets in the world, and the licensed wholesale trade sits at the centre of that position.
The numbers are substantial. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade confirmed that the total value of gold passing through the country in 2024 reached USD 186 billion, and described the UAE as the second largest gold trading centre globally.[1] Precious metals now dominate the country's merchandise trade, with gold alone accounting for roughly 48.6% of UAE non-oil trade.[2] Gold exports were valued at around AED 196 billion, or USD 53.41 billion, across 2024 and 2025, spanning bars, coins, dust, nuggets, scrap, and bullion.[3]
Regulation has tightened in step with that scale. Over recent years the UAE has built a framework of mandatory anti-money laundering procedures, customer due diligence, annual audits, and responsible sourcing checks aligned to OECD guidance on metals from conflict-affected areas.[1] For serious traders, that compliance infrastructure is an asset, since it is what allows UAE-traded metal to move freely into global markets.
The World's Second Largest Physical Gold Market
A Dubai-licensed precious metals wholesaler operates in a market where the total value of gold passing through the UAE reached USD 186 billion in 2024 according to the Ministry of Foreign Trade, in a country that ranks as the second largest gold trading centre globally and where gold alone accounts for roughly 48.6 percent of all non-oil trade.
Sources: UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade (2025), UAE trade data (2026), Gulf News / UAE Export Data (2025)
Who Is This Activity For?
4662.04 - Wholesale of Gold and Other Precious Metals
Activity 4662.04 sits within the broader class covering the wholesale of metals and metal ores, which takes in ferrous and non-ferrous metals in primary and semi-finished forms. Within that class, this activity is the wholesale trade of gold and other precious metals. It covers buying, selling, importing, and re-exporting bullion, bars, grain, sheet, and semi-finished precious metal products on a business-to-business basis. The activity concerns the metal itself as a traded commodity. It does not extend to refining or assaying the metal, manufacturing it into finished articles, or selling jewellery to retail customers.
The trading range covers:
- Investment and industrial grade gold bars, ingots, and grain
- Silver, platinum, and palladium in bulk
- Semi-finished products including sheet, wire, and casting grain
- Recovered and recycled precious metal for refiner supply
- Assay-documented consignments with chain of custody records
- Import and re-export of metal between producing and consuming markets
- Supply of production input to jewellery manufacturers and industrial users
Service Scope
Gold Bullion, Bars & Grain
Wholesale trade in investment and industrial grade gold in bar, ingot, and grain form, supplied with assay documentation to dealers, banks, and manufacturers.
Silver, Platinum & Palladium
Bulk trade in the other principal precious metals, serving both investment demand and industrial users across electronics, automotive, and manufacturing.
Semi-Finished Precious Metal Products
Trade in sheet, wire, tube, and casting grain supplied as production input to jewellery manufacturers and industrial fabricators.
Scrap & Recycled Precious Metal
Sourcing and onward supply of recovered precious metal to refiners, forming an increasingly significant part of regional supply.
Import & Re-Export Metal Trading
Moving precious metal between producing regions and consuming markets through the UAE, supported by secure logistics and customs facilitation.
WHAT THIS ACTIVITY EXCLUDES
It is important to note what activity 4662.04 does not cover. The retail sale of gold, jewellery, or bullion to individual consumers falls under separate retail classifications. Refining, assaying, and the physical processing of precious metal are manufacturing and testing activities rather than wholesale trade, as is the manufacture of jewellery or other finished articles. Trade in precious stones, pearls, and diamonds sits within its own separate scope, as does trade in metal scrap generally and the operation of financial or commodity derivative services linked to metal prices.
In short: if you are trading gold or other precious metals in bulk to the trade, you are in. If you are refining or assaying metal, manufacturing jewellery, or selling to retail customers, you are not.
Licensing & Compliance
THIRD-PARTY APPROVAL
This activity requires pre-approval from the Security Industry Regulatory Agency (SIRA) before a business license can be issued by Meydan Free Zone.
ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING COMPLIANCE
As a dealer in precious metals, this activity is classified as a Designated Non-Financial Business or Profession (DNFBP) and is therefore subject to AML compliance requirements. The licensed business must register with the relevant supervisory authority through the goAML platform, appoint a designated compliance officer, apply customer due diligence and record-keeping procedures, and report suspicious transactions in line with UAE anti-money laundering legislation.
References
[1] Khaleej Times (UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade statement). (2025). UAE clarifies gold import rules.
[2] SANA. (2026). War pressures precious metals markets in the Gulf, citing UAE external trade data.
[3] Gulf News. (2025). Who buys UAE gold? Where Dh196 billion worth of exports went last year.
