UrBC, Moscow, September 22, 2015. Russia’s foreign trade turnover shrank by 33.6% between January and July 2015 and amounted to $321.1bn. Rosstat reports export was down by 30.3% ($210.2bn), import by 39.2% (110.9bn). The balance of trade stood at $99.2bn. The decrease in imports was mainly due to such items as cars and other vehicles and equipment: 44.5% less of those got imported in Russia in the first half of the year ($44,957m in money terms). The decrease in exports had to do with shrinking supply of oil and other fossils (-37.3%, down to $136.23bn). The foreign trade figures changed

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 22, 2015. A power outage in Sysert left 8,000 people without any electric power supply for an hour. According to the Ministry of Emergencies’ Sverdlovsk Region division, the accident was reported at 3:55 PM. ‘The electric power supply was restored via backup grids at 5:00 PM. Our experts are currently looking into the causes of the accident,’ SverdlovEnergo reports.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 22, 2015. The average amount of a retail loan issued to Sverdlovsk Region-based borrowers dropped by 10% (from 181,600 RUR to 164,600 RUR) between August 2014 and August 2015, National Bureau of Credit History reports. As for the country’s average, this figure grew by 4.13% (from 167,300 RUR to 174,400 RUR). ‘Retail lending crisis reached its peak in January-March 2015, when banks virtually stopped the lending assembly line; the average loan amount went up by 45,600 RUR, or 26.1% compared with January 2015 (128,900 RUR),’ the Bureau says. Director-General

UrBC, Pervouralsk, September 22, 2015. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant/PNTZ (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) produced its 1,000,000th ton of small-diameter electric welded pipes. The set of 8.0mmX0.7mm pipes was delivered to one of Minsk’s leading household goods manufacturers, the Group’s press service reports. The plant’s pipe welding department makes small-diameter welded pipes in many shapes and sizes. This is Russia’s leading facility for making small-diameter shock absorber pipes and refrigerator pipes for Indesit, Stinol, Atlant, and BEKO. The plant has also had its refrigerator pipe

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 22, 2015. MegaFon and Uralvagonzavod Corporation signed a cooperation agreement. Under the two parties’ three-year contract, the telecommunications provider will ensure good quality connection for the corporation’s employees through a single mobile and landline network at attractive rates, Uralvagonzavod’s press service reports. MegaFon will keep offering the company its attractive pricing policy and benefits of a wide coverage area; additionally, a new task is to introduce the Fixed Mobile Conversion/Express Dial service. The employees’ mobile phone numbers