Furious En+ chairman hits back at Bloomberg for ‘wrong article’ on US sanctions
Christopher Burnham, chairman of En+ Group, generally considered the world’s leading producer of low carbon aluminium and hydropower, has hit back at media giant Bloomberg.
Its news site ran an article on 12 October making a series of allegations with regards to En+ Group’s relations to Russia and sanction compliance, which City PM won’t repeat for legal reasons.
On the basis of the news from Bloomberg the London Metal Exchange (LME) price for aluminium immediately jumped $165.00 and closed $69.00 higher based on speculation.
“The article is simply wrong. We remain in full compliance with OFAC’s requirements including the Terms of Removal agreed in 2018 and we are committed to fulfilling our contracts in the USA and worldwide,” Burnham said.
” When the US sanctioned RUSAL aluminium in that year, the LME price jumped 29 per cent and there was a scramble to find alternative material by US manufacturers,” he stressed.
“Irresponsible market speculation of this sort only benefits our competitors who have publicly advocated for restricting our market access.”
Christopher Burnham
He further said the Bloomberg article “hurts the American consumer and the US economy – risking more than 164,000 direct and 470,000 indirect jobs in potentially affected downstream industries, including aerospace, automotive, truck trailer, packaging and healthcare goods, building and construction, and solar & wind power generation.”
“It hurts customers too, potentially adding thousands of dollars to the prices of cars and trucks. We know wire and cable producers are already suffering by paying an inflated price for Russian origin wire rods with 45 per cent duty,” Burnham continued.
“Wire and cable producers are vital contributors of decarbonization in the USA, supplying their products to solar and wind projects along with standard overhand-conductors,” he concluded.