Export and import of metals in Russia

• Non-ferrous metals (Russian market)
• Russia's Foreign Trade

Chronicle

2024

Russia increased the supply of waste and copper scrap to China 13 times to $728.5 million

In January 2025, it became known that the state customs service of China recorded an increase in purchases of Russian copper scrap and waste by 13 times to $728.5 million in 2024.

According to Prime, the total volume of imports of copper and products from it from Russia amounted to $3.01 billion, which is 6.4% less than in 2023. Supplies of refined copper and crude alloys decreased by 28.2% to $2.27 billion.

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Фото: Freepik

Chinese companies imported copper cathodes and their sections worth $2.11 billion. In addition, purchases of copper matte reached $8.5 million, copper wire - $1.7 million, copper powders and scales - $1.6 million.

At the end of 2024, Russia ranked seventh among copper suppliers to the People's Republic of China. The Democratic Republic of the Congo holds a leading position with an indicator of $15.17 billion.

According to the publication, the five largest importers also included Chile, which exported products worth $6.65 billion, Japan - $5.88 billion, Zambia - $4.88 billion and the United States - $3.82 billion.

The most noticeable reduction was in the supply of refined copper and unrefined alloys - by 28.2% or $891 million, the state customs service of the People's Republic of China emphasizes.

The increase in the supply of copper scrap and waste from Russia is due to the growing needs of the Chinese industry for secondary raw materials. This trend reflects a strategic orientation towards the development of a circular economy.

The change in the structure of Russian copper exports to China demonstrates adaptation to new market conditions. With the reduction in the supply of primary products, the demand for secondary raw materials required for the metallurgical enterprises of the PRC has significantly increased. The customs service estimates that the trend towards increased purchases of copper scrap and waste will continue amid the development of processing facilities in China.^[1]

Spain resumed imports of iron and steel from Russia

In mid-June 2024, it became known that Spain, after a three-month break, resumed imports of iron and steel from Russia. This is evidenced by the data released by the statistical service of the European Union (Eurostat).

Madrid stopped regular purchases of ferrous metallurgy products from the Russian Federation in December 2023, but imports were restored in April 2024. In particular, 21.27 thousand tons of iron and steel were delivered to Spain from Russia for a total amount of approximately €7.96 million. At the same time, purchases of aluminum increased by one and a half times - to €13 million, while imports of Russian titanium almost doubled, reaching €1.5 million.

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Фото: Unsplash

At the same time, as RBC notes, the volume of April imports of ferrous metallurgy by Spain turned out to be significantly less than those that were recorded before the start of a special operation in Ukraine. In particular, in 2021, Spain purchased steel and iron in Russia for $241.93 million.

In general, the mutual trade of the two countries decreased by 14% in April, being at the level of €248 million. Of this amount, approximately €177.2 million was provided by Russian exports, and another €70.8 million - by Spanish.

Russian exports to countries Europe during January-February 2024 amounted to approximately $9 billion. For comparison: during the first two months of the previous year, this figure was estimated at $18.3 billion. For the entire 2023, exports to European states against the background of the formed geopolitical situation more than tripled and amounted to $84.9 billion against $265.6 billion in 2022. In April 2024 USA , a ban was introduced on the supply of aluminum, copper and nickel to the country from Russia. Global metal exchanges are prohibited from accepting these metals from the Russian Federation. At the same time, Britain which limited imports of non-ferrous metals from Russia in 2023, joined the sanctions on trading platforms.^[2]

The United States and Britain abandon direct purchases of aluminum, copper and nickel from Russia in order to increase the costs of suppliers for their export through third countries

The United States and Britain announced a ban on the import of metals from Russia as part of new sanctions restrictions. The following message appeared on the website of the US Treasury on April 12, 2024: 'Today, the US Treasury Department, in coordination with the UK, issued two new bans designed to reduce the income received by Russia from the export of aluminum, copper and nickel. The new measures ban imports of Russian-origin aluminum, copper and nickel into the United States, as well as restrict the use of Russian-origin aluminum, copper and nickel on global metal exchanges and in over-the-counter derivatives trading. Thus, the Treasury follows the decision of the G-7 leaders to reduce Russia's metal revenues. "

With a detailed analysis of the wording, it becomes clear that the goal of our opponents is not to remove Russian products from the market, but to reduce the margin of this business for Russian suppliers. The lack of supplies from the Russian Federation would of course lead to a sharp increase in exchange prices and the creation of parallel supply channels. Large investment funds and Western producers do not need this. Their task is to maintain the volume of official supplies, but increase the costs for the original supplier and, thus, reduce its revenues.

Using the example of Russian energy supplies to the EU, the United States and Britain through, and India Turkey other intermediaries, Russia's enemies have already tested a mechanism to increase costs. In their media, there is harsh rhetoric about sanctions, and in fact energy supplies flow to European, Asian American and markets through more complex delivery schemes. This is pumping from board to board in neutral waters, and mixing grades of oil and oil products, swap supplies, the use of a shadow fleet and intermediaries. Statistics show that Russian suppliers as a whole retained their market share, but their costs increased.

A significant part of commodities from the Russian Federation comes to Kazakhstan, acquires "democratic" documents there and is exported to the EU, Britain and the USA. This situation has developed for many export positions from the Russian Federation. In the case of metals, the US calculation is that the main export flow will go through Kazakhstan. This will include intermediaries who are already under the financial control of the US monitoring services in the supply chain, Rybar wrote.

2023

Key Steel Exports

Exports of rolled steel and pipes accounted for 32% of the total revenue of the metallurgical industry in Russia in 2023. These products remain a key export of the country's ferrous metallurgy, according to statistics from the Federal Customs Service. This became known in the summer of 2024 from an analytical report.

According to Metaltorg, coking coal and steel semi-finished products took second and third places, providing 25% and 24% of export revenue, respectively. Together with cast iron and ferroalloys, these five types of products form 90% of the industry's export revenues.

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Фото: metaltorg.ru

Metaltorg analysts stressed that despite the drop in supply volumes over the past 4 years from 0.62 million to 0.55 million tons, thanks to rising prices, revenue from the export of round-section pipes increased from $0.7 billion to $1 billion.

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Фото: metaltorg.ru

Exports of finished rolled products in 2023 amounted to 8.9 million tons, a decrease of 16.9% compared to 2022. Revenue fell 36% to $6.17 billion. The main fall fell on flat rolled products, the supply of which decreased by 23.9%.

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Фото: metaltorg.ru

The export volume of steel semi-finished products reached 13.8 million tons. Slabs retained a leading position in this segment with a share of more than 63%. However, the average cost of a ton of slabs and blanks of Russian production decreased by 15-17%.

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Фото: metaltorg.ru

Pipe products accounted for 25% of the export value of all finished steel products. Deliveries of large-diameter pipes in four years decreased from 0.62 million to 0.4 million tons, and revenue decreased from $0.7 billion to $0.44 billion.

The largest share in the raw materials segment is coking coal, whose share in export revenue increased from 22.5% in 2022 to 25.5% in 2023. The global average prices for long products amounted to $725 per ton against $918 in 2021.

Companies of the European division NLMK remain significant consumers of Russian semi-finished products, temporarily avoiding the effect of prohibitive sanctions.^[3]

Reduction of ferroalloys exports by 6.9% to 538.1 thousand tons

At the end of 2023, Russia exported approximately 583.1 thousand tons of ferroalloys. This is 6.9% less than in 2022, when shipments of these products to foreign customers amounted to 626.5 thousand tons. The corresponding indicators are reflected in the BusinesStat study, the results of which are presented at the end of May 2024.

The deliveries take into account such products as ferrovanadium, ferromanganese, ferromolibden, ferrosilicomanganese, ferrosilicochrome, ferrosilicon, ferrochrome, etc. The main application of ferroalloys is doping, that is, enrichment of the base metal or alloy with certain chemical elements or compounds. Ferroalloys may have a double, triple or multicomponent structure depending on the number of driving elements.

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Фото: BusinesStat

The study says that in 2019-2023, the export of ferroalloys from Russia decreased by 28.6% - from 816.4 thousand tons to 583.1 thousand tons. In particular, in 2020, a drop in shipments was recorded by 10.8% - to 728 thousand tons - due to a general decrease in trade activity between countries amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the market began to recover: exports rose by 23%, reaching 895.8 thousand tons. The negative impact of the pandemic has come to naught, and the demand for Russian products abroad has grown. But then there was another decline: in 2022, ferroalloy exports fell by 30.1%. The main problem for export-oriented companies was the complication of international logistics and settlements against the background of the emerging geopolitical situation. This led to a rise in the cost of products and, as a result, a decrease in interest in them abroad.

Among the leading enterprises of the industry, BusinesStat analysts name CHEMK JSC, Kuznetsk Ferroalloys JSC, Serov Ferroalloy Plant JSC, EVRAZ Vanady Tula JSC and Kosogorsk Metallurgical Plant JSC. In ^[4]

Decrease of 12% in steel billet exports to 5 million tonnes

In 2023, Russia delivered 5 million tons of square steel billet abroad (used for the production of construction reinforcement and other metal products), which is 12% less than a year earlier. This is evidenced by the data released on March 1, 2024 by the agency Metals & Mining Intelligence (MMI).

As Vedomosti writes with reference to MMI Development Director Ilya Kolomeets, the main Russian exports of steel billet are Asia and MENA (states of the Middle East and North Africa). The volume of exports of these products decreased due to the rise in logistics prices to Asian consumers and a decrease in business activity of the main importer - China, Kolomets said.

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Фото: Unsplash

According to him, Russian metallurgists practically do not produce steel procurement for the Russian market, preferring more marginal reinforcement to it.

The publication of the publication notes that Asia has become one of the main sales markets for Russian enterprises of ferrous metallurgy after the start of a special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, because of which the European Union imposed numerous sanctions. In particular, the import of rolled steel from Russia, as well as fittings, welded and seamless pipes, fell under restrictions. For Russian metallurgical semi-finished products in the EU there is a quota regime.

According to MMI calculations, the profitability of valve supplies to the domestic market in 2023 was several thousand rubles per ton more than the export of a square billet. In particular, domestic prices for A500C brand valves on a CPT basis (with transportation fees) in 2023 were in the average range from 55,000 to 60,000 rubles per ton. By the end of February 2024, the cost of reinforcement is 65 thousand rubles per ton, which is 8% more than a year ago.^[5]

2022: Zinc imports exceed exports

In 2022, 83.3 thousand tons of zinc arrived in Russia from abroad. According to BusinesStat analysts (their data were published in June 2023), the import of this metal exceeded exports from the Russian Federation.

According to the study, in 2022 the largest volume of zinc imports to the territory of Russia fell on January - 9.6 thousand tons. In June, the volume of imported zinc supplies to the country was the smallest in a year - 4.7 thousand tons.

In 2022, the main country supplying zinc to the territory of Russia was 73.1% of Kazakhstan total imports or 60.9 thousand tons. In second place in terms of zinc imports to the Russian market in 2022 was Uzbekistan 20.7% of total imports, or 17.3 thousand tons.

Kazakhstan also led in terms of value imports of zinc to Russia in 2022 - 73.4% of the total import turnover. Supplies from Uzbekistan accounted for 19.7% of the total cost.

According to analysts, after the drawdown in April-May by the end of 2022, the Russian zinc market stabilized. The situation remained stable for the first three months of 2023. Since March, there has been an increase in zinc consumption in the domestic market by continuous galvanizing units of domestic metallurgy giants and enterprises specializing in submersible galvanizing of metal structures.

By mid-June 2023, there is a decrease in zinc quotes on the London Metal Exchange. The high prices of 2022 are explained by the closure of a number of European enterprises. By mid-2023, the energy situation changed, logistics supply chains were rebuilt, a zinc surplus formed on the European market, which led to lower prices. It is predicted that the weighted average price of zinc at the end of 2023 will be $2,500-2800 thousand/t due to the high cost of zinc in the first quarter of 2023.^[6]

2022: Zinc exports up 6-fold to $63.1 million

The volume of exports of Russian zinc in 2022 reached $63.1 million, which is 6 times more than a year ago. Nickel supplies abroad tripled to $5.8 billion. Such data in mid-March 2023 were disclosed by the Federal Customs Service (FCS).

According to the information provided by the department, aluminum supplies for 2022 increased by 7% to $9.2 billion, copper - by 16.7% to $7.1 billion. Lead supplies decreased 3.3 times and amounted to $79.8 million. Imports of zinc to Russia in 2022 increased 1.5 times (to $347 million), imports of nickel fell by 17%, to $69.4 million.

Work of Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant

According to Leonid Khazanov, an independent expert in the field of industry and power, the multiple growth in zinc exports can be explained by the weakening demand for galvanized steel from the construction complex and the automotive industry.

The auto industry in 2022 experienced the strongest collapse in production over the past decade, which led along the chain to a decrease in orders for zinc: the production of passenger cars fell by 33% to 450 thousand units, trucks - by 24.3% to 141 thousand units, - he explained (quote from the Prime agency).

The expansion of nickel supplies abroad was due to the strengthening of demand for it from manufacturers of stainless steels and heat-resistant alloys, which are not suitable for nickel cast iron and ferronickel, Khazanov believes.

In monetary terms, the increase in nickel and zinc sales was due to a sharp rise in prices for them on the London Metal Exchange in the spring of 2022, which led to multi-year highs. The peak of nickel prices in the amount of $48 thousand per ton was reached on March 8, 2022, zinc reached almost 4.5 thousand on April 22, the expert added.

According to forecasts of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the production of non-ferrous metals in Russia by 2030 can not only recover to the pre-crisis level, but also significantly exceed the indicators of 2021.^[7]

Notes