Dubai Is About to Become the World’s Cocoa Capital — Here’s the $26 Billion Plan Behind It

Dubai is making a major move into the global cocoa industry. DMCC, the international business district that drives global trade flows through Dubai, has announced plans to launch a dedicated Cacao Centre — a new trade platform designed to position Dubai as a world hub for cacao trading, processing, and innovation.

The announcement places Dubai at the centre of a cocoa market projected to grow from USD 16.6 billion in 2025 to USD 26.2 billion by 2035.

What the Cacao Centre Will Do

The DMCC Cacao Centre is built around the full cocoa value chain — from sourcing and processing all the way through to branding, distribution, and access to finance. It will offer state-of-the-art infrastructure including grading, storage, blending, packaging, and branding capabilities under one roof.

The Centre will also connect directly to DMCC’s FinX platform, giving cocoa boards, cooperatives, and farmers access to trade finance solutions — a critical tool in a market known for price volatility and limited liquidity.

DMCC currently hosts 88 companies active across cocoa trading, chocolate manufacturing, and confectionery. The new Centre brings all of that activity together into a single, structured platform for the first time.

Who Is Behind It

The Centre is being launched in partnership with two key players. Kumbi Cocoa, a company focused on building direct and equitable relationships with farming cooperatives, joins as a strategic partner. Ribezzi Group, a diversified Dubai-based conglomerate, will lead development and execution.

Together, the three parties will assess the feasibility of building integrated infrastructure in Dubai capable of storing, trading, and processing raw cacao beans into semi-finished products such as cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, and cocoa powder for global markets.

Why Dubai and Why Now

This launch follows the proven success of DMCC’s Coffee Centre and Tea Centre, which have already reshaped global trade flows in their respective markets. The Cacao Centre follows the same cluster model — bringing producers, traders, manufacturers, and capital together within a single ecosystem.

Dubai’s strengths in warehousing, blending, temperature-controlled logistics, and structured trade finance make it a natural fit for this kind of hub. In 2023, the UAE imported USD 17.3 million in raw cocoa beans and USD 65.3 million in finished chocolate and cocoa products, while exporting USD 16.4 million in raw beans — ranking it among the top 30 cocoa exporters globally.

Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman and CEO of DMCC, summed up the vision directly. “Cocoa today is not only about production, but about how value is structured, financed and distributed across the supply chain. By bringing together producers, traders, manufacturers and capital within a single platform, we are creating the conditions for more value to be captured closer to origin while strengthening Dubai’s role as a global hub for agri-commodities trade.”

The Bigger Problem This Is Solving

The global cocoa trade has a well-known structural imbalance. West African producers account for roughly three-quarters of global cocoa output yet capture only a small fraction of the end-market value. The DMCC Cacao Centre is designed to directly address this by connecting producers with global buyers, capital, and value-added services in a more transparent and equitable way.

Meanwhile, the premium chocolate segment — covering single-origin products, artisanal offerings, and health-focused formats — is expected to grow from USD 31.9 billion in 2024 to USD 40.6 billion by 2030, adding further commercial momentum to the launch.

What Comes Next

The parties will now evaluate infrastructure feasibility before moving into full development. If the model follows the trajectory of DMCC’s coffee and tea clusters, the Cacao Centre has the potential to become a defining platform for the global cocoa industry — with Dubai at its centre.