White Gold Price in the UAE: How It Is Priced and What It Is

There is no separate white gold price in the UAE. The Dubai Jewellery Group (DJG) publishes one rate per gram for 18K and one for 14K, with no white gold rate, and a white gold piece is sold at the rate for its karat, plus the shop's making charge and 5% VAT.¹¹¹ White gold is yellow gold alloyed with a white metal, and it is often plated with rhodium to look whiter.⁵ That plating is only a surface finish, and it wears off over time.²

0

separate white gold rates in DJG's daily list of five karats

18 of 24

parts gold in 18K, whether white or yellow

14 of 24

parts gold in 14K, about 58%

0.5 µg

nickel per cm² per week: the UK and EU limit for jewellery worn on the skin, not a UAE rule

What is white gold?

The colour of gold jewellery comes from the alloy, the other metals mixed with the gold. Pink gold has more copper, green gold more zinc and silver, and white gold more nickel, DJG explains.² The Sheffield Assay Office, a UK hallmarking office established under an Act of Parliament, describes white gold as an alloy of yellow gold and a white metal such as palladium.⁵ That is how white gold is made: the gold is mixed with a white metal, and the mix decides the colour. The white metal can differ from piece to piece, and the shop should be able to tell you which one it is.

Pure gold cannot be white. 24K gold has the natural colour of pure gold, and its colour cannot be changed without lowering the purity below 24K.² White gold is therefore always below 24K. Every white gold piece we read in UAE listings was 18K, or 22K in two-tone designs.¹²¹³

18K white gold

18 parts gold and 6 parts other metals, fineness .750, the same gold content as 18K yellow.²

14K white gold

14 parts gold in 24, about 58.3% by our arithmetic on DJG's 24-part scale.² DJG publishes a separate daily rate for 14K.¹

White gold price in the UAE: how it is worked out

DJG's daily list gives a suggested retail price per gram for 24K, 22K, 21K, 18K and 14K gold, and nothing for colour: there is no white or rose gold line.¹ The same price is announced for the whole UAE market.⁴ A white gold piece is priced like any other piece of its karat: gold weight x the rate, plus the making charge, plus 5% VAT.¹¹

The listings we read on 14 November 2026 confirm it. On Tanishq's UAE online store, five 18K pieces in white gold, alone or combined with rose or yellow gold, were priced on an 18KT gold line at the same price per gram that DJG published for 18K that day, and nine 22K chains in yellow and white or rose and white gold used the 22K figure.¹¹² What varied was the making charge: 12.5% to 28.5% of the gold value on the five 18K pieces, by our arithmetic.¹²

White gold price per gram today

Here is the value of the gold only, at today's 18K and 14K rates. The weights are examples, not typical weights of any piece.

Weight	18K, AED	14K, AED
1 g	356.25	277.75
2 g	712.50	555.50
3 g	1,068.75	833.25
5 g	1,781.25	1,388.75
8 g	2,850.00	2,222.00
10 g	3,562.50	2,777.50

Damas lists its white gold pieces as 18K white gold or 18K yellow and white gold, with a stated gold weight, for example an 18K white gold earring with 1.252 g of gold, but shows no breakdown of the making charge.¹³ Ask for the breakdown in the shop. Today's rate is on the 18K gold rate page, and the gold value calculator works out any weight.

Rhodium plating: a finish, not the metal

White gold alloys usually look yellowish, so they are often plated with rhodium to give them a pure white colour, the Sheffield Assay Office says.⁵ DJG puts the limit of any plating plainly: a surface colour given by electroplating is only a surface finish and will wear off over time.²

…only a surface finish and will wear off over a period of time.

Dubai Jewellery Group, jewellery guide

Plating does not change the karat. The clearest written rule we found is British, not Emirati: in the UK, plating does not qualify for any hallmark, the item is hallmarked as the alloy underneath, and the Hallmarking Act 1973 says rhodium is ignored when the hallmarks are decided.⁶⁷ That is UK law, not UAE law. In the UAE, every gold jewellery item must carry an official hallmark or tags issued under UAE standards, and the fineness number shows the karat of the alloy; our guide to reading UAE gold hallmarks explains the marks.³

Shops name the plating in different ways: Tanishq describes one 18K white gold chain as finished with rhodium polishing.¹² None of the sources we read publishes how long rhodium lasts or what re-plating costs in the UAE. Ask the shop whether it re-plates white gold, how often it expects that to be needed, and at what price, and get the answer in writing.

18K or 14K white gold

Both karats have a daily DJG rate, and the 14K rate per gram is lower because 14K holds less gold.¹ For diamond pieces 18K is the usual choice: Visit Dubai says Dubai jewellers use the more durable 18K for diamond rings and other stone-studded pieces, and DJG says diamond jewellery is usually made in 18K white or yellow gold.¹⁰² Every white gold piece we read at Tanishq and Damas was 18K or 22K; none was 14K.¹²¹³ If you are offered 14K, compare its price with the gold value in the 14K column above, not with 18K pieces.

Nickel and sensitive skin

Allergic contact dermatitis can be triggered by some metals, including nickel, the NHS says.⁹ Because white gold is made with more nickel, DJG says, this matters more for white pieces than for yellow ones.²

The UK and the EU limit nickel in jewellery under REACH, a chemicals regulation that started as EU law and that the UK kept in its own version; we read the UK text. Under Annex XVII, entry 27, jewellery in prolonged contact with the skin may release no more than 0.5 µg of nickel per cm² per week, posts in pierced ears less than 0.2 µg, and a nickel-free coating must keep the release within the limit for at least two years of normal use.⁸

None of the 14 white or two-tone listings we read at Tanishq, and none of the Damas white gold pages, named the white metal in the alloy.¹²¹³ If nickel bothers you, ask for it to be written on the invoice before you buy.

White gold with diamonds

For a diamond piece, the price has more lines than the gold. DJG advises buyers to have the seller state in writing the weight and number of the diamonds, their clarity, colour and cut, and the purity and weight of the metal, and to ask at least for an in-house certificate when the stones cannot be examined.² Dubai gold dealers must also provide a digital authentication certificate on request, with the karats, the gold weight, the stone weight and the cost of the labour.¹⁰ See our list of diamond jewellers and the gold earrings price guide, which shows how stones and work outweigh the gold on 18K diamond earrings. For engagement and wedding bands in yellow and white gold, see the gold ring price guide.

Before you pay, and when you sell

• Check the hallmark or tag: it shows the karat of the alloy, whatever the colour.³
• Ask which white metal is in the alloy, and whether the piece is rhodium plated.
• Ask for the gold weight, the rate, the making charge and the VAT as separate lines, and an invoice with the jeweller's stamp.³
• Compare the price with the gold value of the same weight at the 18K or 14K rate.
• Remember resale: a jeweller values a used piece by its material value, which can be much lower than the price paid, and exchange and buy-back terms differ between retailers.² Our guide to selling used gold in Dubai covers the steps.