Aluminum, steel most exposed metals to Trump tariffs, Citi says
A 25% tariff as announced by Trump on Monday would likely cause steel prices to rise by $100 to $150 a short ton, the analysts said.
Russian steel producer Severstal has suspended steel exports to the European Union, it said on Wednesday, after its main shareholder Alexey Mordashov was sanctioned by the EU earlier this week.
Severstal, which produced 11.6 million tonnes of steel in 2021, competes with NLMK and Evraz among others in Russia. Severstal usually exports 40% of its annual production, of which 3 million tonnes go to Europe.
“Due to some problems in dealing with the European customers, Severstal is redirecting commodity flows to alternative global markets,” Severstal said in a statement.
It said its financial position remains strong and low production costs will help it to maintain production capacity.
The EU imposed sanctions on Mordashov and many other Russian tycoons as the West punished Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation”.
Mordashov, a well-known Russian businessman who is also the largest single shareholder in German travel group TUI TUIGn.DE, said in a statement on Monday that “what is happening in Ukraine is a tragedy for two fraternal nations”.
“It is terrible that Ukrainians and Russians are dying, people are suffering hardships and the economy is collapsing. I sincerely hope a way can be found in the very near future to resolve this conflict and stop the bloodshed,” he said.
Mordashov added that he had never been close to politics and had nothing to do with the current crisis.
“I fail to understand how these sanctions against me will contribute to the settlement of the dreadful conflict in Ukraine,” he said.
Severstal’s exports to the EU started to fall before the sanctions on Mordashov were imposed as clients refrained from new contracts, a source close to it told Reuters.
“Many (clients) are afraid of public pressure and do not know what to do. Any Russian company is a ‘black spot’ now,” the source added.
(Editing by Jan Harvey)
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