Aluminum and nickel exports from Russia to the European Union and the United States grew by almost 70 percent between March and June, according to UN trade data, Reuters reports.
Russian metal exports were worth approximately $1.98 billion during this time.
The United States, European Union and other Western countries have imposed several sanctions on Russia, but so far the Russian metal industry has not been sanctioned.
A US State Department representative confirmed to Reuters that no sanctions are out of the question to increase the cost of the war in Ukraine for Putin.
According to analysts, the US and the European Union do not want to repeat the confusion of 2018, which was caused by the decision of then US President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Russian aluminum.
At that time, the aluminum sanctions affected the construction sector, the automotive industry, and the electrical industry.
Russian aluminum sanctions were lifted in 2019.
Russia is the world's largest producer of aluminum after China, supplying about six percent of the world's aluminum to the aluminum market.
After Russia's full-scale attack on Ukraine in February, the largest importer of Russian aluminum was the European Union, which imported 78,207 tons of aluminum from Russia between March and June.
This was 13 percent more than in the same period last year.
The US imported 23,049 tons of Russian aluminum during the same period.
According to analysts, the US wants to keep its sources of aluminum supplies diversified because the country does not want to depend only on China.
Russia also produces 10 percent of the world's nickel, and the Russian company Nornickel produces about 15 to 20 percent of nickel suitable for batteries.
