December 22, 2014. Yekaterinburg proved one of Russia’s top best cities for traveling to with children, Travel.ru reports. Saint Petersburg, Sochi, Moscow, Anapa, Kazan, Yaroslavl, Velikiy Novgorod, Kostroma, and Pskov were also on this rating. The rating was based on the hotel bookings made by family travelers in 2014. According to the results of the research, a trip of Russian citizens traveling with children around Russia lasted for five days on average, while the price of a night at a hotel came to 3,500 RUR on average. In Yekaterinburg, the average stay was three days long and cost 3,000

December 22, 2014. Yekaterinburg banks don’t seem to have enough foreign currency in cash: not every bank is able to sell a customer $1,000 or €1,000. Uralprivatbank reports it has no more dollars in its Pervomayskaya St branch. The one in Wilhelm de Genin St is out of euros. Promsvyazbank’s outlet in Nikolay Nikonov St says they are out of dollars and can only sell euros. Binbank’s branch in Sverdlov St claims they have no foreign currency in cash, while its branch in Bankovsky Lane is out of dollars but can still sell euros. MDM Bank’s branch in Lenin Ave says they have no cash whatsoever

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.

December 18, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant introduced youth surveillance raids: young skilled workers on these teams have to detect any deviation from rational use of energy, material, and labor resources at the plant and to give advice on how to improve the situation. ‘The reason we decided to engage our younger workers in the project is that they become involved in the production process and grow more labor-responsible through actually witnessing how material, labor, and other resources could be used irrationally and how energy spending and other expenses could (and should)

December 18, 2014. Volchansk Mechanical Plant (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) celebrated the 40th anniversary of its gas cylinder department. According to the corporation’s press service, this is Russia’s only enterprise to make such a wide range of gas cylinders, from standards household ones to innovative, composite ones. The first product was made in Volchansk in 1974, and the millionth one was produced as soon as in 1980. 2 million units were made in 1983, 3 million in 1987, 4 million in 1990, 5 million in 1993, 6 million in 2004, and 8 million in 2013. All in all, the

December 18, 2014. Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (ChTPZ) launched a new storage facility for raw materials and finished goods from the ceramic flux production department, ChTPZ Group’s press service reports. The red-ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on the eve of the department’s anniversary. The new site means ChTPZ will be able to increase its one-off shipments to customers considerably and spend less on logistics expenses. ‘The company’s ceramic flux production facility supplies its customers with 14,000,000 kg of goods a year, about a half of which amount is used for making large-diameter

December 18, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court is going to consider Raiffeisenbank’s claim: the bank insists that OAO Pnevmostroymachine be declared insolvent. The plaintiff says Pnevmostroymachine owes the bank 29,129,135 RUR according to the two parties’ peace settlement (Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court’s ruling to this effect came into force on July 18, 2012). The court hearing has been scheduled for January 19, 2014.

December 18, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region’s large enterprises received 101bn RUR worth of investments in the first half of 2014, which was 12.4% more than a year earlier, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. Over a half of this sum (57bn RUR) was invested in the processing industries and in the enterprises involved in production and distribution of electric power, natural gas, and water. Investments were also on the rise in the healthcare and social welfare sector: these reached 2.4bn RUR, which was 1.5 times more than a year earlier. For one, an increase in

December 17, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation took part in the Russia-Persian Gulf Trade & Industry Forum in Manama, Bahrain, on December 14-15, 2014. The Russian delegation was chaired by the Industry & Trade Minister Denis Manturov, the company’s press service reports. A number of work teams met to discuss various directions of collaboration. UVZ International Director-General and Foreign Trade Counselor to Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head Konstantin Demin took part in the meeting on equipment and machine-building, while UVZ Neftegazservice DG Alexei Samoukin joined the one on

December 17, 2014. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ, a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) won a special RosTechSert prize for Ongoing Development, the enterprise’s press service says. The best enterprises were selected on the basis of their certification and annual audit procedures. The certificate and the prize were given to PNTZ Quality Management Department’s representatives by RosTechSert Director Maria Koroleva and Quality Austria Vice President Ekelhard Bauer at RosTechSert Customer’s Day, the annual international conference. PNTZ quality management system was certified for compliance

December 17, 2014. 24,900 people, or 1.1% of working-age population, registered as unemployed in Sverdlovsk Region by the end of November 2014, Sverdlovskstat reports. The working-age population in the area reached 2,888,300 people throughout September to November 2014, including 2,131,800 employed citizens (93.2%) and 156,500 (6.8%) residents without a position but on the look-out for one (this latter category is defined as the unemplpyed by the International Labor Organization).

December 17, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court is going to consider OOO Voskhod’s application: the company laid a claim asking for OOO Elmash (UETM) to be declared insolvent. OOO Elmash (UETM) was founded on April 28, 2012, but the history of the business actually dates back to 1934, when Uralelectromachine’s first Appliances Plant was launched. The company now makes distribution and control equipment for electric grids, assembles, repairs, and maintains lifting and transportation equipment, produces precious metals, and makes material-processing mills.

December 17, 2014. Allianz Insurance is leaving the retail market of property, liability, and third-party liability car insurance. ‘Allianz Insurance Company had its agreement with a federal partner annulled in September 2014, which meant no third-party liability car insurance was sold any longer in the areas outside of Allianz’s presence. All the attempts to find a new partner proved economically inexpedient,’ the company’s website states. The Russian Central Bank imposed limitations on the insurer’s third-party liability car insurance license shortly thereafter. Still, the company is still

December 16, 2014. Ural Locomotives (a member enterprise of Sinara Group) completed all the rounds of tests for Lastochka trains, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policies Department reports. Governor Evgeniy Kuivashev paid a visit to the enterprise’s production premises on December 15 and was present when an interdepartmental committee signed the acceptance act (which means Lastochka can now be produced for Russian Railways). The acceptance act was signed by Russian Railways Senior Vice President Valentin Gapanovitch and Ural Locomotives Director-General Alexander Saltayev. ‘An

December 16, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation saved around 60m RUR thanks to introduction of lean production principles in nine months of 2014. According to the corporation’s press service, twelve of its member enterprises switched to lean manufacturing all in all. It all began in May 2013 when one of Moscow’s Corporate Governance Center’s subdivisions started coordinating and monitoring the launch of the principles within the corporation. Lean production is now practiced at Uralcryomash, Uraltransmash, Plant 9, OmskTransMash, Burevestnik Research Institute, TETZ, Kamensk Uralsky Foundry