Russia and economic war by the west #3

Kazakhstan's Halyk Bank does not service Mir payment cards since February 27


ASTANA, April 2. /TASS/. Halyk Bank, the largest bank in Kazakhstan, has stopped servicing cards of the Russian payment system Mir since the end of February, an employee of the call center of the financial organization told TASS.

"The last change was on February 27, Mir cards are no longer supported," he said.

According to him, this applies to both ATMs and POS terminals. However, he did not specify the reasons for the current restrictions.

Earlier on Tuesday, the operator of the national payment system Elkart reported that Russian Mir payment cards will stop working in Kyrgyzstan on April 5 due to US sanctions. "The division of the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions against National Payment Card System, the card operator of the Mir payment system. In order to minimize the risk of secondary sanctions, Interbank Processing Center, as a guarantor of the uninterrupted operation of the national payment system Elkart, announced the cessation of servicing Mir bank cards in its infrastructure from April 5, 2024," the statement said.

https://tass.com/economy/1769451

Where to get titanium for Boeings and Airbuses
04/02/2024

The global aircraft industry remains dependent on titanium supplies from Russia, and this dependence has raised safety concerns in the West for the production of civil and military aircraft, as well as aircraft engines. Russia could cut off the flow of this metal and put companies in unfriendly countries critical to national defense and civil aviation in a difficult position. writes The Washington Post.

Titanium's importance in the aerospace industry is due to its strength and lightness. The metal has the strength characteristics of steel but is 45 percent lighter, more resistant to heat and corrosion, and can be used in products from paint to implants. The aircraft industry cannot do without titanium: the metal itself and its alloys are used in power structures and aircraft skins, in aircraft engine turbine blades, and landing gear. It is a critical material as the industry strives to create ever lighter aircraft.

In January 2021, the VSMPO-Avisma corporation and Boeing signed a contract for the supply of titanium products until 2026, according to which the Russian company was to supply titanium forgings to Boeing and its contractors for the production of B787 Dreamliner, B777, B767 and B737 MAX aircraft.

After the start of a special military operation, on March 7, 2022, the aircraft manufacturing giant officially announced the suspension of titanium purchases from VSMPO. Boeing then noted that it had significant titanium inventories accumulated over the past few years as part of efforts to diversify supplies.

At the same time, already in May of that year, the production of the B737 MAX model was suspended, including due to difficulties with raw materials. By refusing Russian titanium, Boeing exposes itself to serious risk due to the fact that VSMPO is the world's largest supplier of titanium to all aircraft manufacturing companies in the world without exception; Boeing, Airbus, Embraer and other large companies have purchased and continue to purchase it. All suppliers of components for Boeing aircraft in the United States were also forced to stop purchasing titanium from VSMPO.

Despite the fact that the Russian manufacturer and supplier of titanium is at least partially owned by Rostec, which is subject to Western restrictions, it is not subject to sanctions by the United States and the European Union. The only thing that was done was to introduce export control over VSMPO-Avisma, which, however, does not prohibit the supply of Russian titanium to the USA, but only limits the export of goods for VSMPO itself to Russia.

“We think that imposing sanctions on titanium from Russia would mean imposing sanctions on ourselves,” Airbus chief executive Guillaume Fiori said in June 2022.

In December 2022, Airbus said it would phase out Russian titanium within a few months, but according to a Russian export database, the amount of titanium earmarked for supplies to a European aerospace consortium has increased to at least $24 million in 2022, which is the maximum figure for any European or American company and 940 percent higher than Airbus purchases a year earlier, writes The Washington Post.

“Based on available data from last year, Airbus was still receiving titanium from a Russian supplier until at least November 2023. In a statement, an Airbus spokesman said the company does not comment on purchase volumes or contracts with suppliers, but complies with all existing sanctions against Russia. The statement notes that the company has already purchased titanium from suppliers outside of Russia, including in Europe, the United States and Asia,” the TWP article said.

November 15, 2021 at the Dubai Airshow Boeing and VSMPO-Avisma agreed on titanium supplies for existing and future aircraft and technological cooperation for many years to come. A joint venture, Ural Boeing Manufacturing (UBM), was opened in Verkhnyaya Salda.

In accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding signed by company executives, Boeing and VSMPO-Avisma planned to work together to increase UBM utilization, increase investment in research and development of new titanium alloys and technologies, and expand VSMPO’s role in the production of titanium parts and components for Boeing aircraft. But already in 2022, UBM was closed; Boeing stated that they “mined titanium mainly in the USA.” However, Boeing's main suppliers continued to purchase Russian titanium.

In 2022, VSMPO exported about 15,000 tons of titanium worth $370 million, the vast majority of titanium was sent to unfriendly countries, with Germany, France, the USA and the UK topping the list. In 2023, VSMPO exported titanium worth at least $345 million.

French aerospace company Safran Group, which supplies engines and chassis to aerospace companies including Boeing, increased imports from Russia by more than $20 million in 2022, up from $8.6 million a year earlier. LEAP 1B engines manufactured by Safran are installed on the Boeing 737 MAX. Airbus also uses LEAP on some aircraft. Safran claims that the volume of purchases in 2022 has increased, but “the share of Russian titanium in them has not increased.”

Leaders of the British company Rolls-Royce, which produces engines for both Airbus and Boeing, announced in the spring of 2022 that they would stop purchasing Russian titanium. But imports of Russian titanium continued, increasing from $5 million in 2021 to $6.7 million in 2022. At the same time, deliveries of VSMPO to Rolls-Royce were also noted in April 2023.

The continued dependence of European firms on Russian titanium is confirmed by European Union trade data, The Washington Post notes. In 2023, the European Union imported $244 million worth of Russian titanium, which is only 20 percent less than the highest import volume in 2019. U.S. trade data for 2023 shows $47 million in Russian titanium purchases, down nearly 80 percent from the 2019 peak.

The Ust-Kamenogorsk Titanium and Magnesium Plant (UKTMK), located in Kazakhstan, produces titanium sponge, ingots and slabs. And VSMPO-Avisma produces flat and long products, pipes and stampings. The Japanese Toho Titanium and Osaka Titanium, from where Boeing supplies, have a wider range of products than UKTMK, but in terms of the number of titanium semi-finished products they are also inferior to the Russian company.

They are afraid to buy titanium from Chinese manufacturers in the United States. Considering the complex foreign policy and economic relations of the West with the PRC, there is a high probability that the aircraft industry and the military-industrial complex will now become dependent on Chinese companies, and in America they fear this more than completely abandoning Russian titanium. In 2022, the discovery of a Chinese alloy in the assembly of F-35 fighter jets led to a production shutdown and investigation. The Pentagon later issued permission to use the alloy.

About 80 percent of the titanium sponge used in the United States comes from Japan, which is struggling to keep up with waning demand. But American companies will need government help to resume sponge production in sufficient quantities in the United States.

The US titanium industry could fill the missing volumes that arose after Boeing refused to cooperate with VSMPO, but this would require significant investment and the introduction of new technologies. And if there is neither one nor the other, then the aerospace industry of the EU and the USA can continue to buy titanium from Russia quietly or through third countries.

https://aviation21.ru/gde-vzyat-titan-dlya-boingov-i-ejrbasov/

The Japanese Toho Titanium and Osaka Titanium, from where Boeing supplies, have a wider range of products 

Hole wrote:But no raw material. Japan has to import the stuff.

This is getting annoying. These supposed allies of Russia needs are afraid of US sanctions so instead they Backstab Russia. Russia needs to threaten to kill the top leadership of these banks if they refuse to serve Russia's interests.

will grow faster than all of the world's advanced economies, including the US, this year.

kvs wrote:The surge in Russia's GDP growth is peculiar.   It does not make sense that there would be a two year delay in import-substitution driven growth.