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MOSCOW, March 29 (Reuters) - Russia's Nornickel

, the world's largest palladium producer and a major

producer of high-grade nickel, said on Friday that some clients

in the European Union had refused to buy products made with

Russian metals.

Although Nornickel itself and its metals is not a target of

Western sanctions some consumers are voluntarily shunning deals

for its metals and of products made from Russian raw materials,

said Anton Berlin, vice president for sales.

Nornickel's Finnish Harjavalta plant, which produces

battery materials in Europe for electric vehicles, was affected,

he added as an example of the rejection of products made from

Russian materials.

CEO Vladimir Potanin said last year that sanctions had

constrained Nornickel's development due to "voluntary

self-sanctions" imposed by some clients and foreign suppliers of

equipment and technologies, though Western governments have

refrained from targeting Nornickel directly in response to the

conflict in Ukraine.

Berlin also said on Friday that many banks had refused

to accept and transfer money for Russian products. Nornickel

continues to face challenge in dealing with ports, ships and

insurance companies.

"We are reconfiguring our sales system... In such

circumstances, the main goal is to sell all we produce", he

said.

After February 2022, Nornickel changed its sales

geography, shifting its

focus

to Asia, whose share in company's revenue exceeded 50% last

year for the first time in its history.

China has become the Nornickel's largest sales market,

Berlin said.

This year, the company expects nickel output will drop

to 184,000-194,000 tons, palladium output is seen at 2.296-2.451

million troy ounces, lower than a year earlier, Nornickel

reported

in January.

Berlin also said that Nornickel would seek to integrate

into the value chain so that "we cannot be taken out of the

global economy".

"For nickel, the first priority is to integrate into the

battery sector", he said.

Nornickel also

seek

new uses for palladium, Berlin said.

Nornickel is performing "wide fundamental research

together with Russian and foreign scientists" to replace the

eventual loss of autocatalysts with new demand, its head of

product development told Reuters last year.