European manufacturers asked to close the “loophole” for Russian aluminum

European aluminum producers are demanding that Brussels close the loophole through which sanctioned Russian metal enters the EU market through third countries, reports the Financial Times. Several EU member states, including Lithuania, also expressed concern to the European Commission, two European diplomats said.

The European Union limited imports of primary aluminum from Russia as part of the 16th package of sanctions in February last year. But, as representatives of the European aluminum industry told FT, Russian metal still ends up on European markets: it is processed in third countries and from there imported into the EU as a product of non-Russian origin.

The business is proposing a monitoring system under which importers would be required to provide data on the country where the aluminum was smelted or cast, rather than the country where it was made into the finished product. A similar mechanism - smelt and cast rule - exists in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

General Director of the European Aluminum Association European Paul Voss said that last year Moscow earned almost $10 billion from aluminum exports. They sell it at a discount of about 11% to the average price of aluminum imports into the EU.

Previously, it was possible to circumvent sanctions against Russian oil in a similar way: it was processed in India, where a refinery partially owned by Rosneft operates, and Turkey, and then resold to the EU. The 18th package of sanctions approved in July last year included a ban on imports of refined Russian oil products from third countries.