Evraz Group, an ore maker, has been negotiating with Rover Ltd. of Kemerov on buying coal. According to Evraz proprietors, the company is going to develop the new coal business and buy more coal. The Group has been reported to be doing the preliminary assessment of the coal company, yet Evraz itself has not given any official comments so far, says Vedomosti newspaper. In 2005, Rover Ltd. was nearly bought by the metallurgical industrial complex of Magnitogorsk; the owners of the coal company, including GD Timur Tsoriev, had been negotiating on the issue of acquisition, but the transaction

Managing Director of West Siberian Metallurgical Industrial Complex Andrey Mokrinskiy will soon become the Operational Managing Director of Evraz Group. Former Operational Managing Director Valeriy Khoroshkovskiy became President on January 1, 2006, reports Interfax. Mr Mokrinskiy will be succeeded by R. Nugumanov.

Sverdlovsk Region industrial production index for January and February 2006 grew by 10.9% and 7.5%, respectively, against a year earlier, reports SverdlovksStat, the statistical agency. It was in the field of automobile production (2.7 times), rubber and plastic industries (55.6%), electrical appliances and equipment (42.8%), textiles (35%), radio and television equipment (19.4%), machines (14.2%) and publishing and printing business (11.8%) where the increase was most visible. The output of tobacco products and timber processing and wooden goods fell by 75.6% and 7.2%, respectively. The

60,200 square meters of dwellings were produced in Sverdlovsk Region in January and February 2006, which exceeds the figures for 2005 by 2.7%, reports SverdlovksStat, the statistical agency. The private builders put up a total of 46,100 square meters of houses (an increase of 8% compared to 2005). The share of private housing made up 76.6% of the total amount compared to 78.1% a year earlier. There were more buildings constructed in these two months than twelve months before in 28 towns and cities of the region.

‘Our comments on the need for protection of the author’s rights in TV advertising have to do with our wish to make every player on the market aware of the changes in the Russian Authors Association standards,’ said GD of Telets Advertising Agency Artem Drygant. ‘This should prevent the advertisers from the disloyal producers as well as fines. The TV channels will be able to produces timely and detailed records of the ads they put on air. The authors will be able to receive their royalties. The advertising market is developing and legal protection of intellectual property must become effective

Sverdlovsk Region Court of Arbitration introduced competitive production in Yekaterinburg Winery JSC today. The company has up to now only had the external inspection and recently declared itself bankrupt. UrBC has already reported the statement by Deputy Minster of Sverdlovsk Region Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry Sergey Latskov which made it clear that the decision of the Court should result in appointing the company manager who would decide what assets and when should be put up to auction ‘Everything is to be done in accordance with the law,’ Mr Latskov said. The company was

Strong drinks will not disappear completely from Kupets supermarkets this week. As the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative, their supplies should last them for another few months. In April or May, the issue has to be fully resolved. ‘We certainly do have some problems with imported produce as well as the rest of local market,’ the spokesperson said. The company is going to compensate the foreign strong drinks with their Russian counterparts. The foreign spirits may become 15 to 20% more expensive, which doesn’t have to do so much with the new legislation; it’s rather due to the

‘The current trend in mobile phone services is volume discounts on traffic prices, which is caused by more traffic,’ Deputy GD of Set Tsifrovikh Technologiy (Digital Technologies Network) JSC Alexei Bachurin said to UrBC representative. ‘Yet lots of major operators are not willing to give those discounts: there are only two of them on the market, so the competition is insignificant. If there appear more of them in the nearest future, let’s say another two, this will surely lead to more customer-friendly pricing policies,’ Mr Bachurin said.

Vice-president of Ural Regional Currency Exchange (URVB Stock Exchange) Maxim Kostylev has commented on the claim by Tatyana Kolotova, Head of Sverdlovsk Regional Department of the Federal Antimonopoly Service. Ms Kolotova claimed that no exchange was prepared to auction Government Purchases yet. ‘At the moment, Ural Regional Currency Exchange has licenses for auctioneering goods and standard contracts. Our infrastructure embraces complete set of hard- and software for commodity e-exchange. URVB has adopted and confirmed the Rules for Auctioneering in the Section of Commodity Markets. URVB’s

On March 16, 2006, Chelyabenergo JSC, Chelyabinsk Regional electricity Supplier, held a project team meeting concerning charges for connecting to the company’s networks. The meeting was visited by Chelyabinsk Regional and municipal governments’ representatives. According to GD of Chelyabenergo Evgeny Kryuchkov, there is a long felt need for connection charges. Numbers of networked electricity consumers as well as the demand for Chelyabenergo electricity networking have been growing during the last few years. This growth was induced by the general growth of Chelyabinsk Regional economies and