DMCC Unveils Plans for State-of-the-Art Cacao Centre to Boost Dubai’s Global Role in Cocoa Trade
Dubai, 20th April, 2026 – The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) has announced plans to launch a Cacao Centre, a groundbreaking platform designed to create an integrated ecosystem for cacao trading, processing, and innovation. This development is set to enhance Dubai’s reputation as a leading global hub for agri-commodities trade.
The Cacao Centre marks a significant step in DMCC’s agri-food commodities strategy, leveraging its successful cluster model that has already transformed global trade in coffee and tea. Currently, DMCC is home to 88 companies engaged across cocoa trading, chocolate manufacturing, and confectionery, and the new centre aims to consolidate this activity under a more structured and efficient platform.
The envisioned centre will cover the entire value chain—from sourcing and processing to branding, distribution, and access to finance. It is being developed in partnership with Kumbi Cocoa, known for fostering equitable relationships with farming cooperatives, and the Ribezzi Group, a Dubai-headquartered conglomerate taking the lead on the centre’s development and execution.
The parties will evaluate creating a robust infrastructure in Dubai capable of storing, trading, and processing cacao beans into key semi-finished products, including cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, and cocoa powder. This facility will serve the global market, providing greater efficiency, transparency, and value creation across the cocoa supply chain.
The Cacao Centre promises state-of-the-art infrastructure and services such as grading, storage, blending, branding, and packaging. These features will be linked to trade finance solutions for cocoa boards, cooperatives, and farmers via DMCC’s FinX platform, addressing industry challenges like price volatility and liquidity constraints.
Ahmed bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of DMCC, stated,
“Cocoa today is not only about production but also about how value is structured, financed, and distributed across the supply chain.”
He added,
“With the DMCC Cacao Centre, we are building a platform around that reality. 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. This is a natural extension of our cluster model, and the next step in positioning Dubai at the centre of global food and commodities flows.”
Kwadwo Boachie-Adjei, Founder and CEO of Kumbi Cocoa, commented,
“Kumbi Cocoa’s mission has always been to build transparent and equitable supply chains that directly connect farmers with global markets. As a strategic partner to DMCC, we are proud to support the development of infrastructure that benefits growers while delivering high-quality, traceable cocoa to international markets.”
Mauro Ribezzi, Founder of Ribezzi Group, explained,
“The global cocoa market is evolving rapidly, and this initiative reflects a forward-looking approach to commodity infrastructure. By integrating sourcing, logistics, trading and processing across continents, the Cacao Centre has the potential to become a new benchmark and a catalyst for the industry.”
The global cocoa market was valued at approximately US$16.6 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach US$26.2 billion by 2035. The premium chocolate segment, fuelled by single-origin products, artisanal offerings, and health-conscious formats, is also on a growth trajectory, expecting to expand from $31.9 billion in 2024 to $40.6 billion by 2030.
In 2023, the UAE imported $17.3 million in raw cocoa beans and $65.3 million in finished chocolate and cocoa products, with exports of raw beans totaling $16.4 million. This positioned the UAE as the world’s 28th-largest exporter and showcases the emirate’s rising significance in both upstream raw materials and downstream finished goods.
The new DMCC Cacao Centre aims to address existing structural imbalances by linking producers with global buyers, capital, and value-added services. Backed by Dubai’s strengths in warehousing, blending, and structured trade finance, the centre will enable a more resilient, transparent, and inclusive global cocoa trade.
Team V.4-EM-UAE
