Russia to divert metals away from Western countries

Moscow, Dec 28 Russia will redirect its metal exports from Western countries to alternative markets due to sanctions imposed by the EU and US, Trade Minister Denis Manturov said, RT reported.

Moscow named China, Turkiye, southeast Asia, member states of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union and CIS countries as priority areas for diversifying metal supplies. According to Manturov, trade flows will also focus on the Latin American, African, and Middle Eastern markets, RT reported.

At a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Manturov noted that "our enterprises, with the participation of trade missions, are already reorienting exports", adding that the state will provide measures of support for logistics.

Russia is a major metals producer and exporter. According to Institut Polytechnique de Paris, last year the country held a 13 per cent market share for titanium production, 11.2 per cent for nickel, 10.5 per cent for platinum, 5.4 per cent for aluminium, 4 per cent for copper, and 4.4 per cent for cobalt. It is the world's top producer of palladium, a rare metal used in car manufacturing, accounting for 37 per cent of production in 2021.

Russia is not only a major producer of primary aluminium but it is also embedded in the global supply chains needed to make the metal.

Although Russian metals and the companies that produce them have not been directly targeted by Western sanctions, many buyers have shunned imports from the country, RT reported.