The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) expects this year to be a record-breaking one due to the boost in the number of companies registering with the premises.

In 2010, 725 companies registered with the DMCC. So far, 1,000 firms have registered this year, most of them from the diamond industry.

“We are getting more interest from Africa, Europe, China and the US,” says Ahmed bin Sulayem, executive chairman of the DMCC.

Before the establishment of the DMCC, the diamond trade was worth less than $6m a year. In 2009, this figure was $20bn and in 2010, the diamond trade was worth $35.1bn. This year is set to break that record again.

“The cost of living in Dubai has decreased, which has attracted more businesses,” says Sulayem. “There has been a surge in oil companies since 2006 and we are still seeing more agricultural, tea, coffee and steel companies coming in, but diamond is the fastest growing industry.”

The arrival of Luxembourg-based De Beers, which controls about 70 per cent of the world’s rough diamond market, has boosted Dubai’s status in the diamond industry. The emirate is now ranked the third largest diamond centre in the world.

Dhamani Jewels, a UAE-based diamond jeweler has opened the UAE’s biggest diamond factory in the DMCC’s Jumeirah Lakes Towers complex.

The factory will have an estimated production output value of $30m a year and will target high-end luxury items.