City Of London
Russia Is Getting Frozen Out As Traders Negotiate Metals Contracts
- Supply negotiations are kicking off for next year’s contracts
- Western manufacturers are trying to avoid Russian supplies
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The metals world is beginning its annual ritual of hashing out contracts for the upcoming year with one key question in many traders’ minds: What’s going to happen to Russian supplies?
The country is a big producer of aluminum, nickel, copper and palladium, and supply deals signed before the war mean sales have largely kept flowing since the invasion of Ukraine. But September marks the start of what’s known as “mating season,” when new contracts are negotiated, and traders and executives say there’s a growing unwillingness in western manufacturing hubs to receive new Russian metal.