Russia, Ukraine & raw materials

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine risks redrawing global trade flows for a very long time to come.

In Europe, we consume about a quarter of the world’s metals, but produce only 3 percent. The war in Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia – one of the world’s largest mining countries – have created a completely new game plan for the EU’s raw material supply.

>> See the breakfast seminar from April 27 here recorded from Teams (note, the seminar is in Swedish). 

>> Download the report in English here

Will countries with more democratic values try to reduce their strategic dependence on less democratic countries and focus trade relations with countries with lower political risk? Will the EU’s new energy plan REPower EU, which aims to reduce the EU’s dependence on Russian gas, among other things, further increase the need for metals as the EU now wants to increase the pace of conversion from fossil-based energy types to more metal-intensive energy solutions such as wind power? What potential does Sweden have to contribute more and more metals to this transition?

This and much more was discussed during the breakfast seminar that Svemin arranged in connection with Magnus Ericsson from RMG consulting presenting the report Russia and Ukraine’s metal and mineral production and its significance for the EU and the world. Russia is a significant producer and exporter of nickel, palladium and vanadium, among others. The importance of nickel for battery production has also increased as battery manufacturers try to get away from the geopolitically exposed metal cobalt. The report provides an overview of how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine affects trade flows of metals in the short and long term.

The seminar was also attended by Maria Sunér, CEO Svemin, Johan Sjöberg, Security and Defense Policy Adviser, the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, Erika Ingvald, unit manager SGU and Maria Rosendahl, business policy manager at the Association of Swedish Engineering Industries (Teknikföretagen).