Norilsk Nickel reported that foreign banks have refused to work with the company.

Despite the fact that Norilsk Nickel is not subject to sanctions , some foreign banks are refusing to work with it, said Vice President Anton Berlin . He cited integration into the value chain as Norilsk Nickel's main goal.

Some foreign banks refuse to accept and transfer money for Norilsk Nickel products, he said in an interviewREUTERS vice president of the company Anton Berlin.

After the article was published, Anton Berlin clarified to RBC that this refers to individual banks. "Norilsk Nickel, despite some difficulties, continues to work with consumers," the top manager emphasized.

He also noted that some customers in the European Union are also refusing to buy the Russian company's products. As an example, the top manager cited the Finnish Harjavalta plant, which produces nickel and cobalt for electric vehicle batteries.

“We are restructuring our sales system <...> Under these conditions, the main goal is to sell everything we produce,” Berlin emphasized.

He added that, given international restrictions, China has become Norilsk Nickel's largest sales market . He stated that the company will strive to integrate into the value chain so that "we cannot be cut off from the global economy."

Norilsk Nickel's largest co-owner and president, Vladimir, spoke in an interview with RBC back in 2022 about the fact that, due to Western sanctions against Russian companies and goods that do not directly affect Norilsk Nickel, the company is forced to reorient part of its supplies to markets in Asia and other friendly countries.Potanin : "In order to combat this sanctions headwind, as I have repeatedly stated, we need a so-called Plan B, that is, a reorientation of our supplies and our partnerships toward so-called friendly countries," he pointed out.

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The company's reorientation toward Asia stems from the fact that it has virtually ceased cooperation with Western investors and international banks, noted Vladimir Zhukov, Norilsk Nickel's Vice President for Investor Relations and Sustainable Development. "Dialogues are ongoing, but they're already being carried out out of inertia. From this perspective, of course, our focus is still domestic. But we are trying to explore opportunities in the Asian market, primarily in China," he said.

Thus, while Asia's share of Norilsk Nickel's sales in 2021 was 27% ($4.7 billion), it rose to 31% ($5 billion) in 2022. By the end of the first quarter of 2023, sales to the Asian market had grown to 45% of total sales. Europe's share of sales declined the most over these years, but it remained virtually unchanged in North and South America: in 2021 and 2022, sales to the Americas accounted for 15% of total sales ($2.3 billion and $2.6 billion, respectively), and 17% in the first quarter of 2023.