Risk of Disruption to Russian Commodity Flows Growing
We consider the risk of disruption to Russian commodity supplies to be growing for several reasons. Firstly, it is clear that Western sanctions that go further than expected and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order to place nuclear forces on high alert mark an escalation in the Ukraine crisis. As such, disrupting flows of commodities does not seem as extreme an outcome as just four days ago. Second, the severity of sanctions has prompted extreme caution from Western buyers of Russian commodities, with significant “self-sanctioning” taking place.
Russian Metal: sanctions vs. weaponization?
While most news outlets have focused on the impact of the Russia Ukraine crisis on the energy sector, Russia is also a major producer of metals. Metal prices can be heavily impacted by western imposed sanctions or Russian “weaponization” of metal exports.
In this report we look at the historical impact of sanctions and weaponization and explain which metals are the most likely to be impacted.
