EU prepares ban on trade of Russian aluminium, Reuters reports
Pravda Ukraine
The European Commission is planning to propose a ban on the import of Russian primary aluminum in its 16th sanctions package against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
Source: Reuters
Details: EU countries hope to adopt the 16th sanctions package in February, marking the third anniversary of the full-scale war.
It is noted that the European Commission held informal meetings with EU countries to discuss the details of the upcoming package.
Currently, the 27-member bloc has banned Russian aluminium products, including wire, pipes and foil. These account for less than 15% of the EU’s aluminium imports, which are used in the transport, packaging and construction sectors. Aluminium is favoured for manufacturing a wide range of parts for electric vehicles because of its comparative lightness.
The United States and the United Kingdom banned the import of metals produced in Russia in 2024, but the EU declined to follow their example due to opposition from some member states.
Following this news, the London Metal Exchange (LME) benchmark price for aluminium reached its highest level in nearly a month at US$2,602 per tonne, but later dropped by 0.1% to US$2,576.50 per tonne.
Imports of Russian primary aluminium to the EU have decreased over the past two years. According to the Trade Data Monitor, the EU imported over 130,000 metric tonnes of primary aluminium from Russia, about 6% of the total volume of 2.2 million tonnes, between January and October 2024.
This compares to 11% and 19% during the same periods in 2023 and 2022 respectively.
Companies from the EU and the US may trigger a race for alternative supplies from the Middle East, including from the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The International Aluminium Institute stated that the region produced nearly 9% of global supplies in 2024.
Read more updates on this topic: More trouble ahead: as Russia enters 2025, how is the economy doing?
Background: The volume of large-diameter pipes (LDP) exports from Russia fell by more than four times in 2024.
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