The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is investigating the alleged use of Cuban-origin nickel in stainless steel exported to the USA from China. Speaking at AMM’s recent Stainless and Its Alloys Conference in Pittsburgh, David A. Hartquist, counsel for the Specialty Steel Industry of North America (SSINA), said OFAC had launched a probe after the association raised concerns that the imported stainless could contain nickel from Cuba and therefore violate long-standing US sanctions. No products produced in Cuba can be sold in the US because of the 46-year-old trade embargo against the small Communist island nation. Cuba currently exports around 98% of its nickel and cobalt production to China, which totaled about 23,000tns in 2006, according to Mr Hartquist. “The alternative solution is to remove the embargo for everyone so the US has access to the nickel. At the moment, China has a monopoly on Cuban nickel exports and that material is not available to any other stainless steel producer in the world,” Mr Hartquist said. The association has also raised concerns that China is reportedly looking to secure future nickel supply out of Cuba by buying up some of the island’s nickel deposits, he added.
