Logistics complications for Russian companies in EU's 20th sanctions package negatively affect working capital - Nornickel
MOSCOW. June 23 (Interfax) - The 20th EU sanctions package introduced in April and the June additions to it have negatively affected the operational activities of companies exporting part of their products by sea, the director of the Department for Work with the Investment Community at Nornickel , Tatyana Dykova, said at the Smart-Lab conference in St. Petersburg.
The latest EU sanctions package to date was adopted in April, and it affected logistics and port infrastructure. In June this year, it was expanded with additional restrictions for shipping companies.
The lengthening of logistics routes will have a negative impact on the dynamics of working capital due to an increase in the amount of goods in transit, Dykova said.
Nornickel's net working capital, partially consisting of inventories of unsold products, amounted to $2.88 billion at the beginning of 2026. It decreased 4% over the year, while it increased last year. Nornickel has been planning for several years to reduce working capital to $2 billion; however, this reduction may take two to three years, and in 2026 the movement may not be significant, the company's senior managers said when commenting on the reporting to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for 2025.
Nornickel transports non-ferrous metals by sea (unlike platinum group metals, which are usually exported by passenger flights). The main port for Nornickel is Murmansk, from where products are shipped to the EU and China. Despite a significant reduction in the share of European buyers in the company's revenue structure, part of the transshipment was carried out through the port of Rotterdam. In 2023, due to the risks of the port of Rotterdam refusing to accept Russian cargo, Nornickel redirected a significant part of its metal exports to the port of Tangier in Morocco. Through Tangier, in particular, the bulk of the copper produced by the company is sold to Asia. Nickel mainly continued to be shipped through the port of Rotterdam.
This year, the logistics of Nornickel's non-ferrous metal supplies were further complicated by the war in the Middle East. Vessels were forced to abandon the route through the Suez Canal and go around Africa, which lengthened the route by three weeks and increased freight costs, the company's vice president and head of the sales division Anton Berlin said in April. However, due to the rise in metal prices, the costs have not yet been so noticeable, he said.
Non-ferrous metals account for more than half of Nornickel's revenue. The share of copper is around 32% and for nickel it is 23%.
Approximately 50% of Nornickel's sales go to China, around 5% to the American market, and approximately 15% to Russia. The rest goes to Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia (excluding China).
