What did 7 March 2022 do to global metal prices?
A look back at the day aluminium, nickel and copper hit record highs as sanctions on Russia loomed over supply.
What happened to metal markets on 7 March 2022? Prices for several key industrial metals surged to new highs on the London stock exchange, as traders braced for shortages tied to further sanctions on Russia.
Aluminium reached a record of about $4,000 per tonne, while nickel hit a record of about $55,000 per tonne. Nickel rose 90% during intraday trading. Copper also set a new high, at $10,845 per tonne, and palladium reached $3,440 per ounce. Russia is a substantial producer of all of these metals, and the market expected shortages as the country faced more sanctions.
Pressure building in the days before
The moves came after a weekend of corporate and financial measures against Russia. On 5 March 2022, Visa and Mastercard suspended operations in Russia following what Visa called Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Visa said it would cut off transactions over the coming days, and that once a full ban was in place, bank cards issued in Russia would no longer work abroad.
On the same date, Samsung Electronics suspended all shipments to Russia, citing current geopolitical developments. Samsung was the largest supplier of smartphones in Russia, with a 30% market share.
Also on 5 March 2022, President Putin signed a decree allowing sovereign and corporate debts owed to creditors from "unfriendly countries" to be settled in roubles rather than foreign currencies, at the exchange rate set by the Central Bank of Russia. The list of such countries was to be determined within two days.
A snapshot of the moment
Taken together, the developments of 5 and 7 March 2022 showed how quickly the economic consequences of the war were spreading, from payment systems and consumer electronics to debt settlement and the commodities that industry depends on. On 7 March 2022, the metals market was where that pressure appeared most plainly in prices.
