In an effort at mitigating the damage done by sanctions and tariffs lately applied to domestic smelters by the United States government, the Russian Federation plans to bump national consumption of aluminium by 300 thousand metric tons by year’s end.
Russian Federation Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov made the announcement to Russian news agency TASS on Monday this week.
“We have about one million [tonnes of aluminum consumed in Russia in 2017 – TASS]. 300,000 tonnes will be added this year.”
Russia’s domestic consumption has significant room to grow, he added, noting that the volume of consumption could rise to 2.5 million metric tons per annum within the next five years.
Manturov continued by assuring the media that the import levies on road construction implements, which was implemented by Moscow as a response to the Trump administration’s trade measures, will not have a deleterious effect upon the country’s market for such.
“We proceeded from and prepared the range of products we are manufacturing. Therefore, colleagues – consumers will always have an option: either to buy expensive but imported machines or to buy cheaper Russian ones.”
In the spring the Trump administration attacked the Russian Federation with a one-two punch of blanket tariffs on aluminium of 10 percent and sanctions against around a dozen Russian government officials and businessmen. Though a handful of other countries were granted either temporary or full relief from the aluminium tariffs, sources say Russia was never seriously considered for any such concessions.
While still reeling from the blanket tariffs on aluminium, the United States Treasury Department issued sanctions against several Russian individuals and businesses, including Oleg Deripaska and his firms En+ Group and U.C. Rusal. Such sanctions frightened off trading partners overnight, though the United States softened the blow by extending the deadline for compliance by third parties who conduct business with the sanctioned firms to October. Deripaska has been busily divesting significant portions of his ownership in both enterprises in the interim in an effort at satisfying U.S. regulators.