The world’s largest diamond trading floor is now open for trading with the upgraded Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE) auction facility being unveiled by DMCC recently.

Located in the iconic Almas Tower in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai, UAE, the redesigned DDE consists of 41 tables, fully secured with cameras, state-of-the-art technology and specialist lighting. Largest of its kind in the world, it can host 200 buyers at one time, along with the ability to host multiple tenders simultaneously.

Interestingly, the DDE will also be now able to host ruby and sapphire tenders moving forward because of its detail-focused solution in the form of white crystal windows, which have been fitted to enable potential buyers to be able to examine and assess coloured stones without any reflective light concerns.

Image credit: DMCC

Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, DMCC, spoke on DDE’s position as an ideal partner for industry specialists and the growing support of diamond buyers and sellers and said that its professional climate, strict regulatory requirements and safety measures have “allowed it to become one of the most trusted diamond trading floors in the region and beyond,” he said and added, “As we move forward, our priority remains to constantly modernise our infrastructure, services and products so that DMCC remains one of the largest and most influential diamond trading hubs in the world. We are confident that housing the world’s largest diamond tender facility will support us in this journey.”

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DDE, which is the only World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) accredited exchange in the Middle East, aims to drive a sharp rise in the number of auctions and bolstering sales and trade flows in the Emirate, which aims to be the world’s biggest international diamond trading hub by 2023.

Having begun at virtually zero transactions in diamond trading in the late 1990s, to US$3.6bn in 2003, and now over $25bn in 2018.  In fact, in 2018, the Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE) alone held 29 diamond tenders, valued at around $330 million, which is a 75% increase compared to 2017, according to a press release.