UAE Silica Sand Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends And Forecast (2025 - 2030)

UAE Silica Sand Market Trends and Insights

Land Reclamation and Mega Tourism Projects

Palm Jebel Ali’s relaunch repositions coastal engineering toward precision sand placement and beach profiling rather than indiscriminate offshore dredging, a shift codified in the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan^{[1]Gulf Business, “Jan De Nul Wins AED 810 Million Palm Jebel Ali Contract,” gulfbusiness.com}. Nakheel’s AED 810 million contract, awarded to Jan De Nul in August 2024, covers 13.4 km² of reclaimed land but postpones additional offshore works until strategic environmental assessments conclude. The new approach reflects concerns over marine ecosystem stress following the development of 119 km² of reclaimed land between 2000 and 2021, with 70% of this area located in Dubai. As a result, the UAE Silica Sand market is seeing reduced low-grade bulk volumes but higher demand for processed sand that meets grain-size and environmental discharge criteria under the Dubai Environment and Climate Change Authority (DECCA) regime.

Solar-Grade Glass Demand for PV Expansion

The AED 350 million solar glass plant, inaugurated by Glass Technology FZ-LLC in April 2025, adds glass capacity sufficient for 5.5 million solar modules annually and plans to install a second furnace to double its output. The Ras Al Khaimah cluster, joined by Guardian Glass and Emirates Float Glass, consumes low-iron silica that must meet high solar transmittance standards. Dubai Investments recorded 14.8 million m² of flat glass output in 2024 and reached full utilization at its 12.6 million m² Emirates Float Glass facility. This specialized pull lifts the UAE Silica Sand market toward higher-purity product segments.

Rising Frac-Sand Demand in Oil and Gas

ADNOC’s unconventional drive, executed through the Turnwell Industries joint venture with SLB and Patterson-UTI, allocates USD 1.7 billion to drill 144 tight-reservoir wells by Q4 2025, each requiring high roundness 20/40-100 mesh frac sand. Abu Dhabi aims to produce 1 billion cubic feet per day from unconventional resources by 2030, redirecting silica demand away from low-value concrete sand to engineered proppants that can withstand high closure stresses. Regional suppliers in Saudi Arabia and Oman currently fill specification gaps, but domestic beneficiation opportunities are on the rise.

Infrastructure Pipeline Beyond Expo City

Dubai’s 2040 Urban Master Plan outlines a national housing budget of AED 65 billion, along with metro extensions and deep tunnel drainage, which will anchor multi-year demand for concrete aggregates, masonry sand, and specialty glass. The construction sector was valued at USD 107.2 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 130.8 billion by 2029, bolstered by mega-schemes such as ADNOC’s USD 45 billion Al Ruwais refinery expansion, awarded in June 2024.

Substitute Aggregates and Plastics

MOCCAE Resolution 21/2019 permits contractors to fulfill up to 40% of road-paving and earth-filling material needs with recycled aggregates, undercutting virgin sand demand. Although Abu Dhabi generated 3.7 million tons of construction and demolition waste in 2019, uptake in circular sand remains below potential. The Circular Economy Policy 2021-2031 builds upon this mandate by layering 22 policies, incentivizing the use of lower-carbon and lower-cost secondary materials. Academic trials on the Dibba-Masafi roadway achieved a 70% cost savings and 87% landfill diversion through the use of recycled asphalt blends.

Tighter Dredging and Environmental Rules

Federal Decree-Law 11/2024 introduces mandatory greenhouse-gas measurement, reporting, and verification for all UAE entities, effective May 2025, with fines of up to AED 2 million for non-compliance^{[2]UAE Legislation Portal, “Federal Decree-Law 11/2024 on Climate Change,” uaelegislation.ae}. Dubai’s Law 11/2024 established DECCA, centralizing environmental permitting and imposing a moratorium on offshore reclamation pending strategic assessments. Cabinet Resolution 67/2024 sets a 0.5 million tons CO₂-equivalent threshold for mandatory reporting and creates a National Carbon Credit Registry, adding compliance costs to sand extraction and processing.

Segment Analysis

By End-User Industry: Oil and Gas Dominance Meets Paints and Coatings Acceleration

Oil and Gas captured 36.11% of UAE Silica Sand market share in 2024 on the back of ADNOC’s unconventional drilling program. This segment alone is projected to consume 650,000 tons of specialized proppant sand annually by 2027, reflecting the uptake of multi-stage hydraulic fracturing. Paints and coatings, although a smaller volume user, will expand at a 5.12% CAGR through 2030, driven by Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap incentives for low-VOC, silica-enhanced coatings that improve UV resistance and durability.

Construction remains one of the largest volume consumers in the UAE Silica Sand market, supported by a USD 65 billion housing fund and megaprojects such as the Blue Line metro extension. However, recycled aggregates now meet as much as 15% of base-course requirements, capping virgin volume growth. Glass Manufacturing contributes consistent demand, with Emirates Float Glass producing 12.6 million m² in 2024 and Glass Technology’s solar line adding significant additional pull from 2025 onward. 

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

Geography Analysis

Dubai and Abu Dhabi account for 85% of the construction contract value and therefore anchor volume demand in the UAE silica sand market. Dubai’s transition from mass reclamation to densification shifts sand requirements toward higher-specification construction and glass products, evident from 91 km of Palm Jebel Ali beachfront profiling and record float-glass output. Abu Dhabi’s industrial nodes—KEZAD, Al Ruwais, and Al Taweelah—drive foundry, filtration, and refractories consumption; EGA’s 2.69 million tons of aluminium output in 2024 alone sustains hundreds of thousands of tons of foundry sand per year.

Ras Al Khaimah hosts a burgeoning glass cluster that demands low-iron silica for photovoltaic applications, while Fujairah remains the primary quarrying hub with an annual capacity of 20 million tons. Northern Emirates leverage Jebel Ali Port and Al Maktoum Airport to import specialty frac sand and high-purity silica when domestic supply falls short. New federal MRV rules create a uniform compliance landscape, although emirate-specific authorities, such as DECCA in Dubai or Abu Dhabi’s Department of Energy, retain local permitting oversight.