In the coming years, Russia may tighten controls over the trade and processing of precious metals. This involves digital tracking, verifying the origin of raw materials, and developing waste recycling. Antonina Antonina Levashenko, Head of the Gaidar Institute’s International Best Practices Analysis Department, told Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
The Russian industry is facing a shortage of raw materials for processing and refining. According to Rosnedr estimates, the volume of recycled raw materials processed in 2023 was 22.8% lower than in 2014. At the same time, the country still has significant capacity for refining precious metals.
According to Antonina Levashenko, one of the goals of regulation is to ensure the transparent movement of raw materials throughout the entire supply chain and to reduce opportunities for illegal trafficking. In the coming years, this may lead to further digitization of record-keeping and tighter control over the origin of precious metals.
“The main goal here is to make the movement of precious metals as transparent as possible: the government must understand where the raw materials came from, where they were processed, and where the finished products are sent next. Therefore, in the coming years, we can expect further development of digital monitoring, marking, and verification of the origin of raw materials. A separate area of focus is the processing of scrap and waste, particularly electronic and electrical waste. Currently, a significant portion of the precious metals contained in these materials remains unrecovered; therefore, developing a system for collecting, sorting, and processing such raw materials could become an important resource for the industry,” noted Antonina Levashenko.
The expert also anticipates improvements in customs and information exchange between EAEU member states regarding the trade in precious metals. Another area of focus could be the regulation of the scrap and waste market, including rules for collecting these materials from the public and their subsequent processing.