London Metal Exchange lifts suspension on nickel cathodes and briquettes from Nornickel's Finnish plant

MOSCOW. Sept 25 (Interfax) - The London Metal Exchange (LME) has lifted its suspension on nickel cathodes and briquettes from Norilsk Nickel's Finnish refinery Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta, the exchange said.

These products were suspended in July this year with warranting canceled with effect from October 3.

The Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta products remain the only ones accepted by the LME system after sanctions were imposed on deliveries of Russian base metals: the list of brands approved by the exchange also includes Nornickel's Kola MMC brands, but they are listed as Russian brands, and warranting for them is restricted.

The United States and Britain banned imports of aluminum, copper and nickel from Russia at the beginning of April this year. The LME was prohibited from accepting new deliveries of these metals from Russia produced after April 13. Russian products manufactured after this date cannot be sold on the key global exchange, where the base metals benchmark is determined, and they cannot be delivered to the exchange's warehouses. The sale of metal to LME warehouses is an important backup for the sale of Russian metal, the bulk of which is sold under bilateral contracts.

Harjavalta processes nickel converter matte from the Kola MMC and produces high-quality nickel products for batteries, including for the nearby BASF plant, designed to supply batteries for 300,000 electric vehicles per year. The Finnish plant's capacity is 65,000 tonnes of nickel products per year, but due to logistical disruptions to the delivery of feedstock in 2022, annual production was limited to 50,000 tonnes, at any rate in 2023. This is more than a quarter of Norilsk Nickel's total nickel output, which is a planned 184,000-194,000 tonnes this year.

Nornickel planned to integrate into the battery chain through cooperation with BASF by 2022 and was thinking of expanding Harjavalta's capacity to more than 100,000 tonnes by the beginning of 2026 in view of the demand for batteries in the EU. However this project is on hold, Nornickel chief Vladimir Potanin said in the spring of this year.