Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) recently started producing a new hot-rolled rebar with the diameter of 40 mm using its Mill 370. MMK PR Department reports the first batches of the new rebar will be used for the construction of the company’s plate mill shop 11. The shop is expected to house cold-roll Mill 2000 meant for the production of high quality automobile body sheets. This means the enterprise actually manages to use its own resources for the implementation of investment projects, which naturally results in cost savings. ‘Ever since the mill was launched in 2005, we have been

The consumer electronics and white goods chain store expects its sales to drop by 5% to 10% this year; nevertheless, the company still hopes to keep its gross margin within 24.5% to 25%, M.Video’s management announced via a conference call. The company’s sales decreased by 20% in the third quarter of 2009, while the total receipts declined by 5%, or down to 19.1 billion RUR. ‘The Russian white goods market has shrunk by over 30% since the beginning of the year, so we don’t really expect the market to recover noticeably in the last quarter of 2009, even though this quarter is usually marked by

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court is to consider the claim laid by OOO Kreativ against Marco Polo Trading House. The plaintiff demands that Marco Polo should be declared insolvent, the spokesperson for the court reports. Kreativ deals in dwellings and public buildings design. As for Marco Polo, the company has already closed down its office at 5 Korolenko St. in Yekaterinburg and is no longer able to operate. The first claims against the company were placed with Arbitration Court as early as the spring of 2009. Marco Polo used to deal in wholesale supplies of beer and strong and low alcohol

The joint meeting of Sverdlovsk Region Legislative Assembly’s both chambers will take place on November 17, 2009. The main point on the agenda is whether Alexander Misharin is going to be appointed the region’s new Governor, Chairman of Sverdlovsk Region Duma Nikolai Voronin informed the journalists on Wednesday. President Dmitriy Medvedev had suggested considering the appointment of the current Director of the Russian Federation Government Industry and Infrastructure Department Alexander Misharin a few days earlier. Under the current regional legislation, a candidate must receive a majority

Russia’s Transport Ministry might limit the amount of flights Austrian Airlines are allowed to operate to Russia. According to Kommersant, the carrier was recently sold to Lufthansa, which the Ministry officials believe resulted in the company losing its national status and the right to operate flights to Russia under the intergovernmental agreement. ‘If the airline does not belong to either the Austrian state or the Austrian residents, it cannot operate flights to Russia under the Russian-Austrian air traffic treaty,’ the Ministry representative said to Kommersant. In the meantime, Austrian

The net profit of Ural Plant EMA plunged by 51,166 RUR, or 98.9% in the third quarter of 2009. The company’s profit figures decreased from 51,733 RUR in the second quarter down to 567 RUR in the third quarter. The plant explains the drop in profits has to do with the increased repair expenses and growing heating and electricity bills.

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin provided some comments on the President of the Russian Federation Dmitriy Medvedev’s annual Address to the Federal Assembly. ‘This is a carefully thought-through strategic document. Its overarching idea is that Russia needs to upgrade its economy, infrastructure, and socio-political fields. The President is right: we have no time to lose. This is a matter of the country’s global survival. We can only survive in this world by truly moving to a new, high quality standard of living, by creating a post-industrial, innovative economy, and by adopting a new