Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) underwent external audit by Ford Motor Company a short while ago; the audit was focused on the company’s automobile body sheets production. Nearly all the departments were involved in the audit procedures. Ford Motor Company representatives visited MMK’s oxygen converter shop, the coatings shop, and sheet-rolling shops No. 5, 10, and 11 that are involved in the automobile body sheet production. A presentation on MMK produce’s potential and the company’s production possibilities was also made. Besides, Ford’s experts got acquainted with the particulars

Sverdlovsk Region Government agreed on the results of tenders where the applicants competed for state guarantees for a number of Yekaterinburg-based projects. For one, a billion-ruble state guarantee will be offered for the subway construction in Yekaterinburg, and another 1.75bn RUR will be directed to the development of the new Academic district’s infrastructure development.

The recent negative developments in the global economy that will probably bring it down to the level of the year 2008 are to affect the Russian banks’ capital adequacy badly: the figure could go well below 10% against the 16.7% in the middle of 2011. This, in its turn, might lead to a demotion of Moody’s ratings assigned to Russia’s banks, RIA Novosti reports. This message was delivered by Moody’s press service.

Most of exported items (that is, over 40% of the total export volume) that Yekaterinburg Customs must handle are still metals and metal goods; chemical produce makes up 42% of all the export shipments; machinery, equipment, and vehicles make up 5.5%, while timber and pulp products make up 2.5% of export shipments. As for the import of goods around Yekaterinburg Customs area, this came to $1.6bn, with 86.6% of imported goods’ worth coming from the countries of the far abroad ($1.bn) and 13.4% of imported goods’ worth coming from the CIS ($213.3m). The physical volume of imported cargo amounted

Ural Airlines will no longer be using the Tu 154M airplanes in the future. This plane will operate its last flight to Yekaterinburg-based Koltsovo Airport on October 16, 2011, the airline’s press service reports. Tu 154 aircraft were traditionally the basis of Sverdlovsk Region’s united fleet of vehicles that was later to become Ural Airlines. The first such plane was purchased in 1974. In 1995, the airline bought the first improved Tu 154M. The company kept using four Tu 154M planes over the last few years; these planes were fitted with the most advanced equipment and allowed to operate in

Russia’s copper export plummeted by 73.5% in January-August 2011 compared with January-August 2010; the figure amounted to 83,200 tons, Russia’s Federal Customs Service’s press service reports. The physical volume of nickel export decreased by 41.6% and reached 89,300 tons over the given period. The value of copper shipments declined from $2.15bn in January-August 2010 down to $770.2m a year later; that of nickel plunged from $3.218bn down to $2,29bn. Remarkably, nearly all of copper and nickel shipments were directed to the countries of the far abroad this year.