The launch of the Qatar Diamond Exchange (QDE) marks an interesting new development in the Middle East – and global diamond industry. The Qatar Free Zones Authority (QFZ) made the announcement on July 26 and made it clear that the bourse is an attempt to establish Doha as a new international gateway for the trade of rough and polished diamonds and precious stones.
Its entry into the diamond market is all the more intriguing given the dominance of the Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE) – a one-hour flight away – which has become a global diamond powerhouse over the past decade or so. Dubai has built an extensive network of traders, manufacturers, banks, logistics companies, laboratories and tender facilities. The DDE says that in 2025, Dubai's total diamond trade reached a record $41.7 billion, involving the buying and selling of 359.5 million carats of rough and polished.
The central question, therefore, is not whether Qatar can immediately replace Dubai. It cannot. The more interesting question is whether Qatar can develop a different and complementary competitive position in the regional and international diamond trade.
From Kimberley Process Participation to Diamond Exchange
The QDE has been several years in the making. Qatar laid the foundations for its diamond hub ambitions when the tiny Persian Gulf state became a full participant in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) in 2021. That gave the country an internationally recognised regulatory framework for the trade of rough diamonds. That was clearly an important first step since international diamond trading depends so heavily on confidence, compliance and recognised systems for preventing conflict diamonds from entering legitimate supply chains.
The Qatar Free Zones Authority subsequently began developing a broader strategy for diamonds and precious stones. Rather than simply establishing a traditional diamond bourse, Qatar has presented the QDE as part of a larger, integrated commercial ecosystem.
The exchange is hosted in the Ras Bufontas Free Zone, close to Hamad International Airport. According to QFZ, the platform combines trading, membership, vaulting, certification and industry services within a single regulated environment.
This reflects an important aspect of Qatar's strategy: the QDE is intended not merely to be a physical place where diamonds are bought and sold, but a platform around which a wider diamond economy can develop.
The Infrastructure and Business Model
The QDE has been designed around several key facilities:
• A secure trading floor
• Private negotiation suites
• Institutional-grade vaulting
• Biometric access controls
• 24-hour on-site security and surveillance
• On-site customs services
• Certification facilities
• Membership and industry support services
The idea is to reduce and simplify the number of separate institutions a diamond company must deal with when importing, storing, certifying, negotiating and exporting diamonds.
Qatar recognizes that diamond companies need secure logistics, insurance, banking, customs procedures, regulatory compliance, specialized storage and trusted certification. As a result, Qatar says it is offering a "one-stop diamond ecosystem."
Qatari authorities say that the country also offers several important advantages, including political and economic stability.
Qatar has substantial financial resources, a stable political environment and a strong reputation for developing ambitious infrastructure projects. For international traders and investors, these factors can be important, particularly at a time when the global diamond industry is experiencing uncertainty.
QFZ specifically presents Qatar's political stability and investor-friendly environment as part of its attraction to international traders, laboratories, financiers and service providers.
It’s not clear yet how the recent conflict with Iran, where the Iranian military fired missiles and explosive drones at its Gulf neighbors, including the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.
The Free-Zone Model
The location of the exchange inside the Ras Bufontas Free Zone near the Hamad International Airport also provides a potentially significant logistical advantage for high-value, time-sensitive goods and gives Qatar the ability to provide specialized regulatory, customs and business arrangements for international companies.
Free zones have become increasingly important in global trade because they can provide:
• Simplified business procedures
• Efficient import and export systems
• International ownership structures
• Customs advantages
• Modern logistics
• Clustering of specialized companies
Since this model has worked so well for Dubai, Qatar has clearly adopted some of the same principles and promotion of similar advantages.
As with Dubai, Qatar is promoting its geographic location, strategically located between several important regions:
• Africa – an important source of rough diamonds
• India – the world's dominant diamond manufacturing center
• Europe, Asia and the United States – the major consumer markets
• The Gulf – a hugely wealthy luxury market
In addition, Qatar’s Ordinarily strong financial position will allow the country to build gradually and reduce the need for immediate success.
Qatar's Luxury and Jewelry Market
Qatar already has a strong position in the luxury sector. The Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition, for example, is an established regional luxury event. The 2026 exhibition is scheduled for 28 September–3 October and is expected to bring together more than 500 brands and approximately 30,000 visitors from over 175 countries.
This gives Qatar a potentially valuable connection between the trade of diamonds and the high-end consumer market for jewelry and watches.
In the long term, the QDE could attempt to connect diamond trading, luxury brands jewelry manufacturers and wealthy regional consumers.
The Elephant in the Room: Dubai
Qatar's greatest challenge is obvious: Dubai is already exceptionally strong.
The Dubai Diamond Exchange has more than 1,300 member companies, 41 diamond viewing stations and a major international tender business. Dubai's ecosystem includes specialized vaulting, logistics, customs support, insurance and financial services.
More importantly, Dubai has something that Qatar cannot buy overnight: liquidity and network effects.
Dubai has spent more than two decades building its diamond and jewelry ecosystem.
Dubai recorded $41.7 billion in diamond trade in 2025, with natural diamonds alone accounting for $39.9 billion. The emirate traded 205.2 million carats of natural rough diamonds during the year. Dubai also hosted 103 precious-stone tenders and auctions during 2025.
For Qatar, therefore, attempting to compete directly with Dubai on volume would be extremely difficult. The one way it could compete is to differentiate itself rather than try to imitate it.
Qatar could position itself as a center for:
• High-value diamonds
• Exceptional stones
• Colored diamonds
• Precious stones
• Private sales
• Wealthy collectors
• Luxury jewelry houses
• Financial incentives
• Specialized tender arrangements
The challenge will be convincing major buyers to travel to Doha when they already regularly attend tenders in Dubai.
Final Words
The Qatar Diamond Exchange is one of the most ambitious new projects in the international diamond industry. It has entered the market at a difficult time, when natural diamonds face weak demand, lab-grown diamonds are disrupting traditional business models, and the global trade is being reshaped by geopolitics and changing consumer preferences.
Yet these changes may also create opportunities. The global diamond industry itself is changing, and Qatar does not necessarily have to recreate the diamond centers of the past. If it can combine its financial resources, security, free-zone advantages, luxury market and international connectivity, it may be able to build a distinctive new type of diamond hub.
The most likely path to success is not to compete directly with Dubai for every diamond transaction. Dubai's scale is simply too great. The more realistic strategy is for Qatar to develop specialized strengths, attract particular categories of high-value trade and gradually build an international community around the QDE.
If that happens, Doha could become an important new player in the regional diamond industry. If not, the QDE risks remaining an impressive infrastructure project operating in the shadow of Dubai's much larger and more deeply established diamond ecosystem.
Abraham Dayan for Rough&Polished from Tel Aviv
