The USA and Great Britain banned the import of aluminum, copper and nickel from Russia

The United States and Great Britain banned the import of aluminum, copper, and nickel from Russia in order to reduce Russiaʼs income from metals. These sanctions also limit the use of aluminum, copper and nickel of Russian origin on global metal exchanges.

This was reported by the US Treasury Department.

The new sanctions will ban two key global exchanges — the London Metal Exchange (LME) and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) — from accepting new Russian-made aluminum, copper and nickel. The restriction will apply to metals produced after April 13, 2024.

"Depriving Putin of the ability to wage an illegal war in Ukraine is better if we act together with our allies. A joint ban on Russian metals on the two largest exchanges will prevent the Kremlin from funneling more money into its war machine," said British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt.

Russia is a major producer of aluminum, copper, and nickel. As Reuters writes, in March, 91% of the registered aluminum stocks in the warehouses of the London Metal Exchange consisted of Russian-made metal. This is worrying some manufacturers competing with Russian companies and some Western consumers who are avoiding Russian metal after Russia invades Ukraine in 2022.

Compared to last month, the share of copper stocks of Russian origin on the LME increased from 52 to 62%, and the share of Russian nickel increased from 35 to 36%.

• The European Union considered the possibility of imposing sanctions on Russian aluminum. The process of smelting aluminum requires a lot of electricity, and its prices are up to 40% of production costs. Because of this, sanctions against Russian aluminum will also be sanctions against the Russian energy industry.