MOSCOW – The Kremlin on Wednesday said the Russian government was in close contact with the metals industry and was discussing different options following U.S. and British sanctions imposed on Russian nickel, copper and aluminium.
In their latest round of Ukraine-related sanctions, Washington and London on Friday prohibited metal-trading exchanges from accepting new aluminium, copper and nickel produced by Russia and barred the import of the metals into the United States and Britain in order to disrupt Russian export revenue.
“Representatives of the metallurgical industry are in close contact with the government,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “Of course, this is a systemically important industry and the government is discussing various courses of action, taking into account the current situation.”
Major metals producer Nornickel said the sanctions would further increase price volatility and supply uncertainty, but said it intended to remain a reliable supplier and would continue to fulfil all its contractual obligations.
Aluminium producer Rusal said the new sanctions would have no impact on its ability to supply aluminium to world markets.
Russia is a major metals producer. Its share in global production is more than 5% of aluminium, 6% of refined nickel and 4% of copper. U.S. and UK officials hope the latest sanctions will widen the discount for Russian metal not traded on exchanges.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Alexander Marrow; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
