Sudan gold exports to UAE slump after diplomatic ties severed

Sudanese gold exports to the United Arab Emirates plunged last year, after the military-backed government ended relations with the Gulf state.

The North African nation sent about 8.2 metric tons of gold to the UAE in 2025, down from 22.2 tons the year before, according to data shared with Bloomberg by the Sudanese central bank. As a result, the proportion of Sudan’s total gold shipments that went to the UAE fell to 56% from 99% over the same period.

The bullion was exported elsewhere, including to Egypt, which received 4.9 tons worth $517 million in 2025 — a roughly 20-fold increase from the year before. Shipments to Oman doubled to 0.7 tons, valued at $77 million.

The figures show the frayed relations between Sudan’s army and the UAE, which was Sudan’s biggest trading partner when civil war erupted there in April 2023.

Sudanese authorities formally cut ties with the UAE last May, and have repeatedly accused Abu Dhabi of backing the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group that’s battling the army for control of the country.

The UAE has consistently denied the allegations, saying it supports neither side. The Gulf state last month repeated its call for an immediate ceasefire and a political transition.

From August, there were indications some ships carrying Sudanese cargoes were having trouble entering the UAE – a development that affected some fuel cargoes from Sudan’s Red Sea ports.

System shock

Although some gold continued to flow to the UAE, events “sent shocks through the system in Sudan,” said Suliman Baldo, executive director of the Sudan Transparency and Policy Tracker, a Sudanese-run think tank that monitors economic developments. “That is the moment officials in Port Sudan began exploring alternative markets.”

Qatar also received more than twice as much Sudanese gold in 2025, amounting to 382 kilograms worth $41 million. Ethiopia — which previously imported none — got 294 kilograms worth $31 million, the data show.

Sudan officially shipped 14.7 tons last year, compared with 22.9 tons in 2024, although higher prices meant the total export incomes for the two years were similar.

The shipments to the UAE last year were worth $865 million, down from $1.5 billion in 2024.

Sudan’s state gold producer has said the official figures don’t account for massive illicit and unrecorded trade of gold, including by small-scale miners.

The RSF has also been accused by United Nations experts of using informal gold sales to fund its campaign — allegations it denies. The conflict in Sudan has claimed tens of thousands of lives and caused the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis.

(By Simon Marks and Mohammed Alamin)