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Aluminium group steps up get in touch with EU to bar imports of the Russian metal

Industry group European Aluminium has stepped up its longrunning require the European Union to broaden its sanctions routine on Moscow, stating the EU could live conveniently without significant Russian aluminium products.

Russia's Rusal, the world's biggest aluminium manufacturer outside China, said the main victims of such procedure would be the European consumers.

It's getting more difficult and harder to validate the continued exemption of aluminium ingots from the scope of EU sanctions on Russia, Paul Voss, director general at European Aluminium, said in a statement on Friday.

We could live conveniently without it, and we should.

The EU has been going over a planned 14th package of Russian sanctions this month, but aluminium has actually not been mentioned in the European Commission's propositions up until now.

The EU already has bans in place on Russian-made aluminium wire, foil, tubes and pipes, but imports of Russian aluminium ingots, slabs and billets - 85% of the EU's aluminium imports from Russia - remain omitted from the steps. The U.S and Britain previously prohibited Russian aluminium imports.

European Aluminium has been lobbying the EU for a ban on Russian-made aluminium over Moscow's intrusion of Ukraine, while worrying that sanctions need to avoid Rusal, which has operations in Ireland, Sweden and some other nations.

EU's 2023 imports of Russian-made main aluminium fell by 45% to 1.25 billion euros ($ 1.35 billion), according to the group. Russia accounts for 8% of the EU's ingot imports, it added.

The group is calling for an EU import ban of Russian aluminium ingots, pieces, and billets and proposes the measures consist of indirect imports of Russian ingots via semi-finished products from third countries.

Rusal said the proposed steps would hit EU's small- and mid-sized downstream business.

Rusal has actually been operating in Europe for more than twenty years, it said in an emailed remark. We hope for a well balanced and reasonable approach from the EU authorities.

(source: Reuters)