The West forbids, China enjoys: as Beijing benefits from sanctions against export of metals from the Russian Federation

In the United States and Britain, the imports of Russian aluminum, copper and nickel were banned. Blogger Anton Shvets analyzes the consequences of this step - and they are ambiguous, along with positive economic harm to the Russian Federation there are also negative political consequences. In States and Britain, imports of Russian aluminum, copper and nickel were banned. Now their trade exchanges cannot receive these metals. All in order to cut Russian exports.

Banned the American Ministry of Finance. According to Russian statistics, in January metals made 15% of exports of the Russian Federation. That really many. Therefore, exports can indeed be summed up. The main manufacturers of metals that have some fate in the world market-"Rusal" and "Nornians". "Nornel" is the largest manufacturer of nickel and palladium. Rusal is one of the largest aluminum producers. The company has not been sanctioned by these recent innovations.

But under sanctions were relevant to these companies. Oleg Deripaska, for example. In 2000, he, together with Abramovich, created Rusal and was then president of the company. And here it is interesting that in 2018 Rusal was already under sanctions. But they were removed just after Deripaska refused to control the company. Deripaska was sanctioned for his close ties with the Kremlin. Director General of "Nornikel" - Vladimir Potanin. One of the richest billionaires of Russia. Also under sanctions.

And under sanctions - investing "Interros". It is because of him Potanin and owns the assets of "Nornetsel". In December, Britain had already restricted the import of these metals from the Russian Federation. And in the States, sanctions against the metallurgical and mining sectors of Russia have already been imposed. Then duties were imposed on some of the metals, and import fell. From $ 870 million in $ 2021 to $ 70 million in 2023. But the trade on the LME (London Metal Exchange) continued.

Because they had a license. But after this ban, the London Exchange, and the Chicago Commodity Exchange cannot be taken by Russian metals. However, this does not apply to metals that were produced. In general, it will be possible to trade Russian metals outside the exchanges. But with discounts. And in any case, it should hit Russia's earnings. But. Here you should not forget about China, which is ready to cooperate with Russia and further, and in even larger volumes.

They quietly trade metals bypassing sanctions. Mask copper under scrap. Because the import of Russian scrap is not charged. And no one noticed that, because the Chinese restricted access to Sinjiang. This is in response to the condemnation of Chinese repression against Uigur. Because none of the international community did not like these repression, and China decided to cover Sinjiang so that it was less visible what was happening there. So, copper was crushed just in Cinjan.

Therefore, it was quite difficult to trace it. And now - a little result of these sanctions of the States and Britain. Shares of Russian companies are already falling. Russians lose money. Well, economic ties with China are actively strengthened. What will be the effect of this for the states and Britain? While we are watching. The author expresses a personal opinion that may not coincide with the editorial position. The author is responsible for published data in the "Thought" section.