Dubai was built on trade, and buying and selling goods is still one of the most common reasons people set up here. The licence part is quick. The parts that trip traders up are customs, where you're allowed to sell, and the bank account. Here's how it actually works in 2026 — licence, costs, timeline and the mistakes we watch people make.
A "trading company" in Dubai just means a business that buys physical goods and sells them — wholesale, retail, import, export, or re-export. The structure you pick decides three things at once: how much you pay, who you're legally allowed to sell to, and how smoothly your goods clear customs. Get those right at the start and the rest is admin.
The decision that shapes everything: where your goods physically go. Re-exporting or selling into other free zones and abroad? A free zone is cheap and clean. Distributing into the local UAE market — shops, offices, homes? You'll almost always want a mainland licence, or a distributor. More on that below, because it's where most traders get caught out.
First choice: how wide do you want your licence to be?
A general trading licence lets you trade a broad basket of unrelated products under one roof — say electronics, garments, furniture and foodstuff together. It's the most flexible option and the one most import/export businesses go for. It also costs the most.
A specialised (or commercial) trading licence ties you to a defined group of related activities — building materials, or auto spare parts, or cosmetics. It's cheaper and perfectly good if you know exactly what you'll deal in. The trade-off is scope: add an unrelated product line later and you may need to amend the licence or add activities.
In practice, if you're testing one product category on a budget, go specialised. If you're building a trading house that will pivot across categories, pay for general trading and stop worrying about your activity list. A few regulated goods — alcohol, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, arms — sit outside general trading and need their own approvals regardless.
This is the fork in the road. Both give you 100% foreign ownership for trading activities now, so ownership isn't the deciding factor any more — market access is.
Issued by Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism (DET, formerly DED). A mainland trading company can sell and deliver directly to any customer in the UAE — shops, businesses, government, end consumers — with no middleman. You can hold a warehouse, take on retail space, and bid for local contracts. You need a physical office with an Ejari tenancy, even a small one. If the UAE market itself is your customer, this is the cleaner setup and usually worth the higher cost.
Free zones are excellent for import, export and re-export. You get 100% ownership, fast setup, and easy customs handling inside the zone. Trader-friendly zones include:
The catch, and it's a big one: a free zone company can't sell physical goods directly into the mainland UAE market. It can import, store, and re-export all day — but to distribute onshore it needs a mainland distributor or agent, or it pays the 5% import duty and clears the goods into the mainland through a customs broker. If half your plan is selling to local shops and you set up in a free zone without knowing this, you've bought the wrong structure. We see traders get caught out by exactly this, so we say it early. If you're weighing the two, our mainland vs free zone vs offshore comparison lays out the full trade-offs.
| Mainland (DET) | Free zone | |
|---|---|---|
| Sell direct to UAE market | Yes, anywhere | No — needs distributor/agent |
| Import / export / re-export | Yes | Yes, very efficient |
| 100% foreign ownership | Yes (trading activities) | Yes |
| Office | Ejari tenancy required | Flexi-desk often enough |
| Typical start cost | From ~AED 20,000 | From ~AED 12,000 |
| Best for | Local distribution & retail | Import/export & re-export |
A trade licence alone doesn't let you clear goods at the port. To import or export you register your company with Dubai Customs for an importer/exporter code — sometimes called a customs code or CRN. It's a straightforward annual registration, usually a modest fee, and it links your licence to the customs system so you can file declarations, pay duty and move containers.
Most goods carry the standard 5% import duty on their CIF value, with some categories zero-rated and a few (like tobacco and alcohol) much higher. If you're bringing in regulated products — food, cosmetics, electronics, medical items — budget time for the relevant approvals (Dubai Municipality, ESMA/MOIAT, and so on). Those clearances catch people off guard at the port, so we flag them before the shipment leaves the supplier.
Your office needs follow your goods, not the other way round. If you're a documents-and-invoices trader who never touches the stock — buying in one country, shipping straight to a buyer in another — a flexi-desk in a free zone is usually enough, and it's the cheapest footprint. If you're holding inventory, you need real warehouse or storage space, which is where zones like JAFZA and DMCC earn their keep. On the mainland, you'll take a store or warehouse on an Ejari tenancy. Don't over-commit to space on day one; scale it as your volumes prove out.
Trading turnover adds up fast, so most traders hit the mandatory VAT threshold of AED 375,000 quickly. You can register voluntarily from AED 187,500, and many do — it lets you reclaim input VAT and the VAT on imported stock rather than carrying it as a cost. Imports are handled through the reverse-charge mechanism on your return, so you account for the VAT and reclaim it in the same filing where it's recoverable. Price your goods VAT-inclusive from the start and keep clean records of every import and sale; customs and tax both work off the same paperwork. The mechanics are in our UAE VAT guide — worth a read before your first shipment.
Here's the part most guides gloss over. Trading companies get extra scrutiny from UAE banks. Compliance teams see a lot of shell trading entities, so they ask harder questions: who are your suppliers and buyers, which countries, what's the goods flow, where do the funds come from. A vague "general trading, worldwide" answer slows everything down.
What helps: a clear business plan, real supplier and customer contracts or invoices, a credible physical presence, and a reputable free zone or a mainland licence behind you. High-risk source or destination countries, or a zero-substance setup, will meet friction — that's the bank's call, not ours, and we won't pretend otherwise. What we do is prepare the file properly so your application lands cleanly. Read how corporate bank accounts work in the UAE before you apply, because sequencing matters.
Rough, honest ranges for a lean trading setup. Every figure is indicative and moves with the zone, activity, visa count and warehouse:
| Item | Indicative cost |
|---|---|
| Free zone trading licence (limited visas) | From ~AED 12,000–20,000 |
| Mainland general trading (DET) + Ejari | From ~AED 20,000–30,000 |
| Customs / importer code (annual) | ~AED 100–1,000 |
| Residence visa (medical + Emirates ID) | AED 3,000–5,000 per visa |
| Warehouse / storage (if needed) | Varies widely by size & location |
| Corporate bank account | Setup support; balance requirements vary |
On timing: a free zone trading licence is often ready in 3–7 working days; a mainland licence typically takes 1–2 weeks once the tenancy and approvals are in place. Visas and the customs code add a little more. The bank account is the slow link — plan for a few weeks, sometimes longer, depending on the profile.
Approvals ultimately rest with the authorities and the banks — we guide and prepare, we don't promise their decisions. What we can do is match the licence to how you plan to trade and get every document right the first time. Book a free consultation and we'll tell you honestly whether a free zone or a mainland setup is the smarter call for your goods.
Licence, customs code, VAT and the bank account — arranged in the right order, matched to how your goods actually move, with a fixed fee and one advisor who knows your file. We'll tell you honestly which structure fits.