The London Metal Exchange (LME) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) have blocked the trade of aluminium, copper, and nickel produced by Russia, the UK government accounced late on April 12. The move will drive Russia deeper into China’s embrace as Shanghai is now on the only major commodity exchange that is still accepting and trading Russian metal. To mitigate the risk of market instability, the government said that the new measures would exempt existing stocks of Russian metal on the two exchanges. These stocks can still be traded and withdrawn without restrictions, providing continuity fo…