DMCC activity register
Industrial licence activities in DMCC
The short answer
DMCC issues the Industrial licence to companies that will physically produce, process, assemble or pack goods inside the zone. The family is small and complete: 25 activities, almost all of them food and beverage manufacturing or the production of precious metals, gemstones, jewellery and watches. The fact that most often decides whether it fits is premises: DMCC licenses the activity, but the production space behind it, and any environmental, food-safety or precious-metals approval the output needs, has to be arranged and cleared first.
DMCC (Dubai Multi Commodities Centre) files 25 activities under its Industrial classification, out of 973 on the register as a whole — its smallest licence family, and one its own register treats as complete rather than illustrative. The names split cleanly in two: Bakery Products Manufacturing, Dairy Products Manufacturing & Packing, Soft Drinks Manufacturing and the rest of the food and drink entries on one side; Gold & Precious Metal Casting, Gold Refinery, Goldsmith, Silversmith, Precious Jewellery Manufacturing, Precious Stones Cutting & Polishing, Laboratory Grown Diamonds Production and Watches & Clocks Manufacturing on the other. DMCC's Industrial licence is, in practice, a licence for those two things.
The line to DMCC's other company licences is drawn by what physically happens, not by the industry label. A business that bakes, blends, bottles, refines, casts or cuts something before it is sold needs the Industrial activity that names that process; a business that buys finished goods and resells them without touching the production step needs a [trading licence](/zones/dmcc/trading-licence) instead — the same split DMCC draws against its [service licence](/zones/dmcc/service-licence) for advisory work, one step earlier in the chain.
Gold and diamond production sits inside DMCC's trading ecosystems for the same commodities, not apart from them: a Goldsmith or Gold Refinery operation works within the UAE Good Delivery standard DMCC built for gold, and Laboratory Grown Diamonds Production sits alongside the System of Warranties it requires for diamonds. Producing a commodity is not a lighter compliance path than trading it.
Velarozone advises on company setup across UAE free zones; it does not issue the licence or decide what facility DMCC will accept for an activity. See [why Velarozone](/why-velarozone) for how an advisory firm fits that process without standing in for the authority.
What the Industrial classification covers
Activities in this family describe making things: manufacturing, processing, assembly, and packaging. Each register entry names what is produced — foodstuffs, metals, building products, equipment — and the licence attaches to that production activity.
Industrial activities are the most premises-dependent category on any register. What the authority requires by way of facilities, and which environmental or safety approvals apply, is decided by the authority against the specific activity, and it shapes the whole engagement.
What a industrial licence here is structured for
A licence built from this family suits an operation that will physically produce, process, or assemble in the zone, with the workspace to match.
The premises conversation comes before the licence conversation. An industrial activity chosen without a facilities plan is a licence that cannot be operated, so the two are assessed together from the start.
From the register
Activities in this family, by name
All 25 activities DMCC files under Industrial, exactly as the register names them. Activity names are the authority's own wording and are shown in English in every language; register codes are not published.
- Bakery Products Manufacturing
- Biscuit Manufacturing
- Cheese Manufacturing
- Cocoa & Chocolate Candies Manufacturing
- Coffee Roasting & Packaging
- Cream of Milk Manufacturing
- Dairy Products Manufacturing & Packing
- Fruit Flavored Drinks Manufacturing
- Gold & Precious Metal Casting
- Gold & Precious Metal Products Manufacturing
- Gold Refinery
- Goldsmith
- Ice Cream Manufacturing
- Jewellery Repair
- Laboratory Grown Diamonds Production
- Mayonnaise Manufacturing
- Pastry & Sweets Manufacturing
- Precious Jewellery Manufacturing
- Precious Stones Cutting & Polishing
- Sauces, Spreads & Condiments Preparation
- Silversmith
- Soft Drinks Manufacturing
- Tea Blending & Packaging
- Watches & Clocks Manufacturing
- Yogurt Manufacturing
What this page does not decide
Decision factors
What changes the answer
Inside DMCC specifically, a handful of facts decide whether an Industrial application goes through cleanly or stalls on premises or approval.
- DMCC's Industrial family is confined to the 25 named activities on its register — food and drink production or packing, and precious-metals, gemstone, jewellery or watch production. Nothing outside those two clusters has an Industrial-licence home at DMCC.
- The production space DMCC expects behind an activity is decided against that specific activity, not a general rule; a licence issued without a facility arranged behind it is one DMCC cannot let operate.
- Gold and diamond production carries the same commodity frameworks DMCC attaches to trading those commodities — the UAE Good Delivery standard for gold, the System of Warranties for diamonds — on top of the licence itself.
- DMCC licenses by single category: a producer that also wants to sell finished goods it does not itself make generally needs a Trading activity as a second licence.
- Visa numbers follow the workspace or facility DMCC allocates, not the licence type itself.
Where this family is a strong fit
- A bakery, confectionery or beverage producer baking, mixing or bottling on DMCC premises — Bakery Products Manufacturing, Soft Drinks Manufacturing and similar entries.
- A dairy or prepared-food business packing or processing under its own label — Dairy Products Manufacturing & Packing, Cheese Manufacturing, Mayonnaise Manufacturing.
- A goldsmith, silversmith or jewellery manufacturer casting, refining or assembling precious-metal pieces.
- A producer of laboratory-grown diamonds, or a stone-cutting and polishing operation.
- A watch or clock manufacturer, or a jewellery repair business mending pieces rather than only selling them.
Where it is the wrong family
- A business that imports finished jewellery, watches or packaged food and resells it without producing, refining, cutting or packing anything itself — that sits under Trading, not Industrial.
- A restaurant, café or catering operation that plates and serves food to the public rather than manufacturing or packing it for sale.
- A plan to manufacture something outside these two clusters — electronics, textiles, furniture, chemicals, heavy equipment — on the assumption that manufacturing in general has a home here.
- A production plan with no facility arranged yet, or a business that only labels or private-brands goods someone else has already fully produced.
About this listing
Questions
Frequently asked
- Is DMCC's Industrial licence a general manufacturing licence?
- No. DMCC's register files only 25 activities under Industrial, almost entirely in two clusters: food and drink manufacturing or packing, and the production of precious metals, gemstones, jewellery or watches. A manufacturing plan outside those clusters has no home in this family at DMCC.
- I make jewellery — do I need the Industrial licence or the Trading one?
- It depends what the business physically does. Casting, refining, goldsmith or silversmith work, stone cutting and polishing, or assembling precious jewellery are named Industrial activities. Buying finished jewellery and reselling it without producing anything is DMCC's Trading family instead.
- Does a DMCC Industrial licence come with production space included?
- No. DMCC decides the facility it will accept against the specific activity, not as a standard allocation, and that facility needs arranging before the licence can be operated.
- Do gold or diamond production activities need approval beyond DMCC's own review?
- Activities such as Gold Refinery, Gold & Precious Metal Casting, or Laboratory Grown Diamonds Production sit inside the same commodity frameworks DMCC built for trading gold and diamonds — the UAE Good Delivery standard and the System of Warranties — on top of DMCC's own review.
Check where this activity can be licensed
Velarozone can check a planned production activity against DMCC's current Industrial list and the facility it implies, without arranging premises or approvals on DMCC's behalf.
This page is general information about UAE business setup, not legal, tax, immigration, or banking advice. Rules, fees, permitted activities, and bank policies can change. Final eligibility depends on your facts and the applicable rules at the time of application.