The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development is now offering its business customers a new option: their transactions can now be handled using the Chinese national currency. ‘The opportunity to open and administer one’s RMB accounts and purchase or sell the currency via UTS will allow our customers to improve their financial relations with their Chinese suppliers. Remarkably, the potential of doing business internationally has virtually no limits now: thanks to the UBRD Internet Bank system, you can now perform currency transactions without setting foot outside your home or office,’ the

Ural Mining & Metallurgical Company (UMMC) will probably introduce a single executive body through the position of a director-general. This proposal is to be considered by the company’s Board of Directors on October 3, 2011.

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) successfully went through an environmental management system audit aimed at checking the system’s compliance with the ISO 14001-2004 standards, the enterprise’s PR Department reports. For three days, a committee of experts from Germany-based TUV NORD, an international certifying body, headed by Chief Auditor Vladimir Tzvetichanin, examined MMK’s environmental management system. Seventeen production divisions, administrations, and departments were subject to audit, including the leading rolling shops, steel-smelting processing shops, and the energy

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) came fourth in the annual rating of the Urals and Western Siberia’s leading exporters carried by the Expert-Ural magazine. The rating was compiled on the basis of the regional companies’ activity in 2010, so it only covers the enterprises whose production activity is mainly concentrated in the Greater Urals (Ural Federal District, Perm Territory, Orenburg Region, the Republic of Udmurtia, and Bashkortostan). This is why many major oil and gas concerns are not featured in the rating, as their business activity spreads far beyond the Urals and Siberia.

Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) in Oktyabrsky and Kirovsky districts of Yekaterinburg carried out scheduled and unscheduled inspections of ten enterprises dealing in maintenance and repair of vehicles in the eight months of 2011, the agency’s press service reports. The local customers complained about the following car mechanics: Firma ERES, UzDaewoo Service, Avtoland Shvetziya, Gamma, Nezavisimost Yekaterinburg F, STO Vostok, and some others. The legal entities and the executives behind the offenses had to face administrative liability and

Energomash (Yekaterinburg)-Uralelectrotyazhmash was placed on the list of companies that owe large sums of money to the Russian Federation budget. The list was compiled and published by Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Tax Service. The list comprises companies whose debt amounts to more than 1m RUR. The data are valid as of September 15, 2011.

The installation of filtering presses manufactured by the Italian company Diefenbach is now in progress at Kyshtym Copper Electrolysis Plant, Russian Copper Company’s press service reports. The new filtering equipment supplied by Diefenbach will replace the old filter presses at one of the copper electrolysis departments, which will ensure the maximum purification of the plant’s industrial wastewater. Kyshtym Copper Electrolysis Plant signed the delivery contract with Diefenbach in December 2010. The machinery is expected to be launched on September 30, 2011.

First Freight Company, the Commonwealth of Independent States’ largest railway carrier belonging to Russian Railways is losing its potential investors. According to Kommersant, the leading Russian railway operator Globaltrans backed out of an auction where a 75% shareholding of First Freight Company was open to bids. The auction is to take place on October 28, 2011. The opening bid has been set at 125.37bn RUR. Bidders can submit their applications until October 14, 2011, the newspaper notes. Now two of Globaltrans divisions actually asked the Federal Antimonopoly Service for a permission to

China’s national air carrier Air China might leave Yekaterinburg market. Starting October 1, 2011, the company will no longer operate any direct flights from Yekaterinburg to Beijing, Kommersant reports. The news of Air China giving up on direct Yekaterinburg-Beijing flights was announced to the newspaper by a number of travel agents. ‘The thing is, the carrier will stop offering Beijing flights on October 1, 2011, and this situation will hold until next March at least; however, no news of the flights being canceled for goods has been announced so far. It is not quite clear at the moment what

DHL Express is about to reconsider the standard shipping rates quoted for Russia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The courier’s Russian division told SeaNews that the increase in rates will vary from 4.9% to 15%. The change in the shipping rates will affect all of DHL Express customers except for companies whose agreements with the courier provide for special terms. The exact rates for each particular country will be settled before the end of the year. The new rates will come into effect in January 2012.

Ural Airlines keeps expanding its Yekaterinburg-China flights network. Starting November 2, 2011, the carrier will be operating flights from Yekaterinburg to Guangzhou with a convenient connection in Novosibirsk (the wait in Tolmachevo Airport comes to two hours). The flights will be operated twice a week, every Wednesday and Saturday. The cheapest round trip tickets are available for ?599 (plus the fees). In addition to this, Ural Airlines already offers Yekaterinburg-Beijing flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.

Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) BOD Chairman Dmitri Pumpyansky and Lhoist Group BOD Chairman Baron Jean-Pierre Berghmans met Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin in Yekaterinburg. The businessmen spoke with the government official about the issues related to the development of TMK and Lhoist joint venture meant for the production of lime and related products at Yuzhno-Mikhailovsky deposit in Sverdlovsk Region. The project presented to the governor and the plans for its development were approved of by the official.

The 2nd international forum on Environmental Innovations as a Way to Success will take place in Yekaterinburg on November 16-18, 2011. Germany’s former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is expected to attend the forum. The event coordinators report the forum aims to offer businesses some specific solutions that could help them enhance their efficiency and protect the environment. The agenda of the forum covers issues like A Big City’s Environment, An Industrial Enterprise’s Environment, The Environment of a Settlement, The Human Environment, and Environmental Innovations & Environmental

A cooperation agreement was signed by Chelyabinsk Region Government and Ural Airlines at the Governor’s residence. The signing was performed by Ural Airlines Director-General Sergey Skuratov and Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Mikhail Yurevitch. The agreement provides for the cooperation of the regional authorities and the air carrier in the field of international flights development in Chelyabinsk. This winter, Ural Airlines intends to launch three international flights departing from Chelyabinsk: to Vienna, Harbin, and Dubai. The cooperation agreement covers some subsidies for Vienna and

Credit Amnesty, a political party set up to protect the borrowing parties’ rights is going to launch an All-Russian protest march against Home Credit Bank on September 29, 2011. The march is known as Home Credit, Go Home! The news was announced via the party’s official website; this is actually the second time the party is about to attack ‘the banks that are going beyond the beyonds’. The first protest was targeted against Russian Standard Bank. The party’s founding congress took place in Moscow on July 10, 2011. It was decided that local representations would be set up in eighty-three

The copyright protection movements appears to have gained more strength in the Urals lately, the Director of Microsoft Russia’s Ural Macro-Region division Andrei Kinash recently told reporters. We make quite a few efforts to prevent the use of pirated software in the business sector, which is why we introduced an anonymous, free of charge hotline that businesspeople can call and consult our experts on whether they do everything right and how they can go legal,’ Kinash said. ‘We keep getting various requests from different agencies that ask as to confirm this or that piece of information. We

Avianova Airlines is going to raise the fares for nearly all of its flights dramatically; the change involves all the flights to be operated at the end of October 2011. One price of 19,900 RUR is now offered on many flights, the airline’s website states, whereas only a little while ago, prices started from only 250 RUR, Kommersant reports. At the same time, Avianova has been cancelling its scheduled flights lately. Bazel Aero that manages the airports in the south of the country announced the carrier cancelled eight scheduled weekly flights. The airline itself explains the changes have been

Rostelecom informed Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service that it had met the agency’s orders regarding its antimonopoly legislation offence and transferred 631,460 RUR to the federal budget, the FAS’s press service reports. Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service announced on July 25, 2011 that Rostelecom (represented by Uralsvyazinform) had violated Article 14 (part 1) of the Competition Protection Act. The offense consisted in Rostelecom changing the terms of the agreement for local phone call services and for access to

Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) is going to take part in Pipes 2011, an international conference that will be held in Russian Research Institute of the Tube and Pipe Industries (RosNITI) in Chelyabinsk on September 26-28, 2011. This is actually the 19th time the conference has brought together the leading pipe manufacturers, the representatives of the academic community, and major pipe produce consumers from the oil and gas sector.

The rating service promoted the long-term credit rating of the Russian steel pipes manufacturer Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) from B to B+, with Stable rating outlook. The company’s national scale rating was promoted from ruA- to ruA. ‘The increase in the ratings reflects an improvement in the company’s liquidity status as well as in its operational and financial performance indicators,’ S&P reports. ‘The Stable rating outlook means that we feel TMK will still feel the positive influence of the Russian (and in particular the oil and gas machinery) market conditions that are favorable