Aurubis CEO says has stopped buying copper from Russia
SANTIAGO - Aurubis, Europe's largest copper smelter and producer, no longer buys the red metal from Russia after it let supply contracts lapse, its CEO told Reuters on Monday.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year fueled a range of boycotts, sanctions and other measures against copper and other metals from the country.
Aurubis, which is not a miner, but refines and recycles copper into wire and other components, had contracts for Russian supply of the red metal that it did not renew when they recently ended, Aurubis CEO Roland Harings said on the sidelines of the World Copper Conference in Santiago, the copper industry's largest gathering since 2019.
"We are not buying Russian copper anymore. It's completely out of our system," he said. Harings had asked the London Metal Exchange last October to impose a ban on Russian metal due to risk of warehouses filling up. Copper supply contracts typically end on a calendar-year basis.
Russia in 2021 - the year before the invasion - supplied Germany-based Aurubis and the entire European Union with nearly 292,000 tonnes of an 801 000 t of imported copper, according to data from Trade Data Monitor.
Despite that amount, the copper market has pivoted to new sources of the red metal and Aurubis does not have supply concerns, Harings said.
"We have been able without real problems to replace the Russian copper units that we were buying with other sources," Harings said.
Elsewhere, Harings said the broader copper market was generally healthy and noted that Aurubis is reporting strong demand, especially for cable and other products for the green energy transition.
"There are significant demands for many, many years to come for copper," Harings said.
Comments
Research Reports
Latest Multimedia
Showroom
We supply customers with practical affordable solutions for their testing needs. Our products include benchtop, portable, in-line process control...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Our Easy Access Chute concept was developed to reduce the risks related to liner maintenance. Currently, replacing wear liners require that...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
