"Despite the current situation with the goods turnover, with export-import operations, the supply of nickel matte from Russia has increased: in April alone, the export value increased by 72% compared to the same period last year," Loginov said.
Loginov also said that Nornickel's plant was in operation, its workload remained at last year's level, and plans to increase production to 100,000 tonnes were still in place.
"The Harjavalta plant produces about 5% of the world's nickel products, and a quarter is supplied for electric cars. With the green transition policy being implemented by the European Union, this production is very important for Europeans, and of course Finns. Maybe that's why nickel has not yet fallen under European sanctions," Loginov added.
He noted that among the risks for the Russian company is the threat of disruption of logistics chains, because the state cargo operator of Finland said that from 2023, it would stop transporting Russian goods by rail.
"At the moment, nickel matte is transported from Russia to the plant by railway and the copper pitch, obtained as a result of its processing, is transported in the opposite direction also by railroad. It's a challenge and a very topical issue to find alternative supply routes. And, of course, there are risks in terms of the next packages of sanctions: no one knows what industries or companies they will affect," Loginov added.
On May 3, the Finnish railway operator VR Group announced its plan to suspend all freight traffic with Russia by the end of 2022.
The European Union, the United States and their allies have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Russia since the country started a military operation in Ukraine in late February, including cutting off Russian banks from SWIFT and imposing strict trade and logistics controls.