December 19, 2014. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) scored the highest among Russian metallurgical enterprises in the National Purchase Transparency Rating 2014. The rating featured 420 major national and local purchases and corporate sector leaders. Compliance with the transparency and economic efficiency standards were used as the main criterion for ascribing the companies their rating positions. The National Purchase Transparency Rating 2014 was carried out by the National E-Traders Association, an independent non-governmental research center which specializes in economic and

December 19, 2014. The number of marriages registered at Sverdlovsk Region’s town halls dropped by 1,300 in the eleven months of 2014 compared with a year earlier, head of Sverdlovsk Region Civil Registry Office Tatiana Kuznetsova said at a press conference. At the same time, the number of divorces rose from 20,295 last year to 20,386 this year; birth rate has remained nearly the same (57,847 children were born in the eleven months of this year against 57,872 children in January-November 2013); the number of deaths stood at 55,055 people (54,546 a year earlier). ‘The decrease in the number of

December 19, 2014. Enel Russia (a subsidiary of Sredneuralskaya Power Station), Sverdlovsk Heating Power Supply Company, and a number of Yekaterinburg housing utilities companies are now undergoing administrative proceedings caused by the city residents’ numerous complaints regarding poor quality of hot water. The press service of Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) says over 150 complaints were laid with them in December regarding a very strong and pungent smell of hot water. Thus Enel Russia (a subsidiary of Sredneuralskaya Power Station),

December 19, 2014. The cosmetics chain Body Shop announced its Yekaterinburg outlet prices would rise 15% on Friday, December 19. ‘We were officially notified by the Moscow office that the entire product range would get 15% more expensive. It was said the price changes apply to all the stores in Russia,’ one of Body Shop’s local stores representative says. This is actually one of the very few perfumes and cosmetics chains that are going through with a price increase: other large chain stores such as L’Etoile and Ile de Beaute are now offering 40% discounts on everything they sell.

December 19, 2014. PepsiCo Russia is calling off a shipment of Pepsi bottles from Yekaterinburg and Nizhniy Tagil due to the possibility of glass contents in the drink, the company’s official statement goes. The shipment in question consists of 1.75-liter bottles made in PepsiCo Holding’s Yekaterinburg subsidiary between 3:15 PM on December 3 and 11:14 AM on December 4, 2014 (the time and date of the manufacture can be found on top of the bottles). ‘All customers who have bought this product are requested to call the hotline number 8-800-200-74-77 (toll-free in Russia) to have their drinks

December 19, 2014. A quarter of respondents in a recent survey said they were considering not buying a car because of economic troubles, Avtostat reports. 20.8% of those surveyed do not exclude the possibility of buying a less expensive make. At the same, every one in five respondents isn’t going to give up on the idea of buying a car due to an economic crisis. 9.7% of Russians are considering second-hand cars as an option; there are also those who will buy an automobile a bit earlier than planned (6.2% of respondents). 18.3% of those surveyed remain undecided.