Russia’s leading producer of refined silicon will halt production starting in 2026. AO Kremniy, part of the Rusal group, announced that it will stop production on January 1, 2026. The decision stems from a global silicon surplus and dumping imports that sharply worsened the plant’s economics. In 2025, Rusal had already reduced silicon output by 35% — to 35,000 tonnes compared with 53,400 tonnes in 2024.
According to Bloomberg, the total volume of Russian oil imported by China has fallen by two-thirds after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Rosneft and LUKOIL. Chinese state-owned companies PetroChina, Sinopec, CNOOC, and Zhenhua Oil have temporarily halted purchases of ESPO — a key grade for Russia’s exports to the Asian market. Marine imports of Russian oil are estimated to drop by 500,000–800,000 barrels per day. As of October 20, China was buying 1.438 million barrels per day, of which 637,000 bpd were ESPO. By November 10, the figure had fallen to 748,000 barrels per day — a 52% decline.
“There is a shortage of components in Russian machine-tool manufacturing,” said Sergey Vetrov, adviser to the director of the FSBI NTI Informatika. According to Vetrov, the domestic machine-tool industry faces several problems. First, technological backwardness and a large fleet of outdated equipment. Second, a severe shortage of components, with import dependence reaching 70%. “The most acute problem is in the production of high-tech integrated CNC systems,” Vetrov noted.
