The Chinese company Quzhou Nova has purchased copper alloy ingots from a plant located in the occupied territory of Ukraine. According to Reuters, having studied the data of the Russian customs, the cost of the purchased metal with a total weight of 3220 tons reaches $7.4 million.
According to the data received, the Chinese purchased copper from October 2022 to March 2023 at Debaltsevo plant of metallurgical engineering in the Donetsk region. Ingots were exported through the port in Novorossiysk, Krasnodar Territory.
Quzhou Nova, a company based in Quzhou city in Zhejiang province, told Reuters that the firm does not carry out any business related to the export or import of copper alloy ingots. A source at the Debaltseve plant told Reuters that the plant has a non-ferrous metallurgy shop, but declined to discuss the topic of deliveries of copper alloys to China, citing trade secrets.
China has not imposed any restrictions on trade with Russia, the agency recalls, but the US has threatened to blacklist companies from third countries for violating US sanctions. These sanctions, introduced on February 21, 2022, inter alia prohibit exports or imports from the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Later, the European Union also joined the ban.
According to customs statistics, from October 2022 to February 2023, China imported copper and copper alloys from Russia for a total of $852 million.