Steps to Establish a Manufacturing Business in Dubai

Manufacturing is the production of commodities for use or sale using labour and machines, chemicals, tools, and biological processing or formulation. It includes all intermediate processes required in the production and integration of a product’s components. Some industries, like semiconductor and steel manufacturers, use the term fabrication instead.

The United Arab Emirates is the perfect place for opening your own manufacturing company. It has definite and undeniable advantages for various business directions, including remarkably different manufacturing. The target market under the manufacturing sector can also be very different. It can be goods envisioned exclusively for the local market as well as items designed for the regional market along with various products for international markets.

Foreign investors wanting to open a business for the manufacturing of food produces in Dubai must comply with several regulations. We at Commitbiz can help you with the registration process.

How to Register your Manufacturing Business in Dubai?

If you want to start a business of manufacturing new products, semi-manufacturing products, or even fully manufacturing products, then follow these steps.

1. Choosing a business activity. This step is crucial to select the business license in the preceding step
2. If you are setting your company in Mainland, then this step is dedicated to choosing a local sponsor for your business
3. Get your trade name approved and apply for initial approval as well
4. Draft a Memorandum of Association and get a NOC from the Ministry of Economy to get clearance for your industrial project
5. Find a proper warehouse to establish the manufacturing plant
6. Get a tenancy contract and an Ejari from the warehouse landlord
7. Take approval from Dubai Municipality’s Planning Department to get the Industrial License
8. Get a NOC from the Civil Defense
9. After the required process is done and the permissions are taken, you must submit the documents to the Environment Department for Industrial Clearance
10. If your business activity needs additional approvals, obtain them under this step. These are for selected manufacturing units like food control if the manufacturing of food products, narcotics department for chemical production, or even from Dubai Police if you plan to manufacture jewellery
11. After getting these approvals, submit the documents required for registration to the Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED)
12. Make payment and get the Certificate of Incorporation and an Industrial License

To help you with the decision-making of manufacturing business setup in Dubai, here are a few advantages of starting this business.

• No taxes for factories set up in the free trade zones of Dubai
• Low cost of labour as the primary source of employment is from countries like India, Pakistan, Philippines
• The state-of-art infrastructure of business with land, ready industrial premises, offices etc.
• A favourable geographical location with easy entrée to the markets of India and Asia
• Existence in an actively developing region, which gives new opportunities for business.

Owing to the lack of taxation in the Emirates and other aforementioned benefits, owning a factory makes sense not just as an independent business, but also as the cost optimiser for the final product in the production chain and structuring of manufacturing processes between nations.

The approval for other requirements needed for manufacturing business setup must also be obtained from the Dubai Municipality which also imposes regulations related to the products, which includes-

• Canning and packaging of food products
• Labelling of food products
• The list of ingredients of the products
• The name of the business producing the goods which must be printed on the package
• The expiry date
• The bar code
• The storage and use instructions
• The net weight of the product

Apart from this, the manufacturing business must also follow the Food Code as given by the UAE.

• Specific construction plans which must delimitate the ceilings, the floors and the walls for each section of the plant
• Lighting and ventilation requirements
• The plumbing system and manure and waste disposal lines
• The equipment used for manufacturing food products

Should you decide to start this business in Dubai, then our advisors can help you with it. Contact us today for more information.