Airbus urged Europe not to stop importing titanium from Russia, saying sanctions on the strategic metal would hurt the aerospace industry and hardly hurt the Russian economy.
Guillaume Faury, the company's chief executive, said at the annual shareholders' meeting that the extension of sanctions imposed after the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to titanium used in aircraft and jet engines was "inappropriate".
Ukrainian President Vladimir Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly called on western governments to impose tougher economic sanctions on Russia. The European Union said on Monday that more sanctions were an option, and British Prime Minister Johnson said on Saturday that Ukraine's allies would continue to increase pressure on Moscow.
Russia is the world's largest producer of titanium. Titanium is a strategic metal, but the EU has so far not banned Russian commodities except steel and coal, so titanium is still not included in trade restrictions with Russia.
An Airbus spokesman said, "Airbus is implementing and will continue to fully implement sanctions." However, the sanctions against Russian titanium will hardly hurt Russia because they account for only a small portion of Russia's export earnings, but it will do great damage to the aerospace industry in Europe as a whole. "
Find an alternative source, but it won't be done in a short time.
Faury added that Airbus was accelerating its search for long-term non-Russian sources of supply, but not overnight.
Airbus has said it relies on Russia for half of its titanium demand. In March, Airbus said it was "purchasing titanium directly from Russia and other countries" and indirectly through suppliers.
Under an agreement renewed in November, VSMPO-AVISMA, backed by the Russian government, provides Boeing with 1/3 of titanium demand. Last month, Boeing said it had suspended purchases of Russian titanium.
VSMPO-AVISMA is 25 per cent owned by Rostec, the Russian state defence group, which relies on aerospace for 3/4 of its sales.
Airbus is concerned about the dependence of suppliers such as France's Safran on Russia, industry officials say. Safran uses titanium to make jet engine components and landing gears.
Finally, Faury reiterated Airbus's profit forecast for 2022, saying that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine "made our situation more difficult" because of economic risks.
