MOSCOW, April 8. /TASS/. South Korea has increased purchases of aluminum from Russia, Russian Ambassador to Seoul Georgy Zinovyev said in an interview with TASS.

Aluminum supplies from Russia to South Korea have not ceased, he noted. "They are carried out within the framework of long-term contracts between Russian and South Korean companies. Moreover, as per the Korea Customs Service, since 2020, there has been a trend toward increasing exports of Russian aluminum to South Korea in both value and volume terms. In 2025, its volumes amounted to $1.3 bln and 483,000 tons, respectively," the diplomat said.

Based on their production needs, local importers purchase the required volume of aluminum on global commodity exchanges, taking into account existing agreements or market conditions, he added.

Moreover, a South Korean company has recently purchased Russian naphtha, according to media reports, Zinovyev noted, adding though that it is unknown whether further purchases will be made.

"There have been media reports that a local company purchased a batch of 27,000 tons of Russian naphtha at the end of March. That said, I don’t know whether South Korean traders will continue to import Russian oil and petroleum products, including to mitigate the negative impact of the current Middle East crisis on South Korea’s fuel and energy complex and local production and supply chains," he said.