Sales of Norilsk Nickel in Europe fall amid voluntary sanctions and a shift towards Asia

Sales of nickel, copper and other Norilsk Nickel products to Europe declined in 2022, reflecting "voluntary sanctions" from some traditional partners.

According to a recent presentation by company vice president Vladimir Zhukov, Europe accounted for 47% of Norilsk Nickel's sales last year, compared to 53% in 2021.

The CEO explained that traditional partners refused to cooperate with the company and imposed self-sanctions. Norilsk Nickel and its minerals have not yet come under EU, UK and US sanctions, but some companies seem to be reluctant to have ties to Russian companies, Callanish notes.

“Our traditional markets in Europe and America continue to play a big role, but their importance is declining. Over the past year, we have significantly refocused our sales on Asian markets, China being our largest. Sales in the domestic market also grew,” says Zhukov.

As the focus shifts to Asia, sales in this region rose from 27% to 31% last year. In the Americas, the share of sales remained unchanged at 15%. In 2022, Russia and the CIS countries accounted for 8% of total sales compared to 4% a year earlier.

In the first quarter of 2023, the Russian mining company sold 24% of its production to European buyers and 17% to buyers in the Americas. Sales in Asia rose by around 45% over the same period, with Russia and the CIS accounting for 13% of quarterly sales.

Last year, Vladimir Potanin, the company's president and Russia's second-richest man, said Norilsk Nickel would fight to maintain its position in traditional Western markets and expects to return to them once this "period of instability" ends.

In December 2022, the US placed Potanin and his holding company Interros on its sanctions list. However, restrictions do not apply to Norilsk Nickel.

In May, Norilsk Nickel announced that it plans to continue selling nickel through the port of Rotterdam and copper through a new transport hub in the Moroccan port of Tangier. From the North African port, distribution is carried out to Europe, North America and Asian countries.

The company plans to reduce nickel production this year by 5% to 204-214 thousand tons due to lack of access to equipment. Copper production, however, could increase by 2% to 417,000-441,000 t/y in 2023 due to rising global demand.