The bloc so far has banned aluminium products including wire, tubes and foil, but these amount to less than 15% of European Union imports of the metal used in the transport, packaging and construction industries.

The U.S. and the U.K. banned the import of metals produced in Russia in 2024, but the EU did not follow suit following opposition from some member states.The EU's imports of Russian primary aluminium have fallen over the past two years.

Between January and October 2024, the EU imported more than 130K metric tons of primary aluminium from Russia, or ~6% of the 2.2M-ton total, compared with 11% and 19% in the corresponding periods of 2023 and 2022 respectively.

Benchmark aluminum (LMAHDS03:COM) on the London Metal Exchange touched its highest in nearly a month at $2,602/ton after the news but later gave up gains.

Potentially relevant stocks include Alcoa (NYSE:AA), Century Aluminum (CENX), Kaiser Aluminum (KALU).

• [Editor:Alakay]