Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to cancel all export quotas on precious metals mined in the country.

A source from the Russian government told Prime-Tass that the president has taken the measure as a way to formalise what already happens in practice.

Sergei Gorny, Deputy General Director of Almazjuvelirexport, explained that there already exist long-term export quotas, while companies which do not have such length quotas export platinum salts rather than metals to get around the quota system.

The news comes after Norilsk Nickel revealed in December that its application for an extension to its export quota had not been processed in time and as such there were concerns that the company might lose some sales due to a delay in trading caused by the hold-up to its quota application.

Although Norilsk denied it would lose out due to the delay, it appears that the Russian government has moved to bring an end to the system altogether in an effort to ensure its precious metals producers remain competitive in the world market.

Ÿ Adfero Ltd