UrBC, Chelyabinsk, September 20, 2016. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) delivered 1,464,000,000 kg of rolled metal goods to steel service centers in the eight months of 2016 (compared with 1,097,000,000 kg in the eight months of 2015). Now steel service centers are responsible for 40% of MMK rolled metal sales on the Russian market, MMK Regional Sales Group’s Senior Manager Andrei Golitsin said at the 7th All-Russian Steel Service Centers Conference 2016 in Chelyabinsk. According to MMK representative, about a half of MMK rolled metal deliveries to steel service centers is used for

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, September 20, 2016. ChTPZ Group and Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) improved their status in the Forbes magazine rating of Russia’s largest privately owned businesses. MMK moved from the 19th to the 17th position in the rating; the company’s revenues rose by 51.3bn RUR, up to 354.1bn RUR, last year. Its EBIDTA was estimated at 28.6% in 2015, the highest percentage since 2007. ChTPZ Group is one of Russia’s major pipe manufacturers, responsible for 17.7% of overall sales by the country’s pipe-makers in 2015. Its EBITDA rose by 30% last year, reaching 10.9bn RUR.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 20, 2016. The new issue of Technowars, Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s company magazine, dwells on cybersecurity, the company press service reports. ‘Cybersecurity is becoming increasingly more topical with every coming year. There was a record-breaking number of cyberattacks targeted at government’s official websites and information systems in 2014, 74 million instances altogether, that is. Even though this number dropped down to 24 million as the Ukrainian clashes grew less acute the following year, cybersecurity remains one of the key issues in national

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 20, 2016. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) made online shopping easier for its customers, the bank’s press service reports. To confirm a transaction, now you just need a one-time unique 3D Secure password that gets texted onto your cell phone (if you signed up for card bank transaction text alerts). Online transactions only used to get confirmed with the help of a permanent password that a customer had to create beforehand either in their e-banking account or during the first payment following identification online. One-time passwords

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 20, 2016. Russian Copper Company signed a cooperation agreement with Tractor Hockey Club, the company press service reports. Under the terms of this agreement, Russian Copper Company is to invest 100m RUR in the club in the winter season of 2016/2017 and will become the club’s primary partner. ‘Chelyabinsk Region is perhaps the most important constituency for Russian Copper Company, as five of our thirteen member enterprises are actually located in the Southern Urals. Also, we’ve always seen supporting both professional and amateur sports for both adults and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 20, 2016. EVRAZ Holding’s Kachkanar Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise (EVRAZ KGOK) launched a new, up-to-date plasma unit that is used to strengthen the surface of worn-out rail wheels, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s press office reports. ‘Thanks to the new unit, repairs now prolong an item’s lifespan by 15%. The unit’s capacity stands at 80 to 110 wheel pairs a month; these are treated with argon delivered onto the wheel flange under high temperature, which results in changes in the metal structure and a new strong surface layer. A repaired wheel doesn’t need any

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 20, 2016. EVRAZ Holding supplied over 1,500,000 kg of fittings for Sakhalinskaya 2, a new power station in the Far East. Another 2,500,000 kg of rolled metal goods will be delivered to the construction site in the future, the company’s PR Department reports. ‘Our AIII fittings made at EVRAZ Holding’s West Siberian Integrated Metallurgical Works are meant for making ground plates of power-generating facilities and other structures. EVRAZ Holding’s rolled metal products meet all the set requirements in terms of their mechanical and chemical parameters and can

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 19, 2016. The country’s key refinancing rate was decreased by 0.5% down to 10.5% at Russia’s Central Bank’s last meeting, the bank’s press service reports. ‘The Bank’s Board of Directors voted on September 16, 2016 that the key rate should go down to 10% a year, given the slowing down of the inflation rate (as forecast) and the still unstable economy. At the same time, the bank feels that in order to keep up with the slowing-down trend, the current refinancing rate should remain as it is until the end of the year and possibly go down in next year’s first or

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 19, 2016. The telecommunications provider MegaFon’s official online store welcomes its customers to place preorders for Apple’s new products, iPhone 7 and and iPhone 7 Plus, the company press service reports. iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus were released on September 7; the smartphones have a fully upgraded camera, stereo dynamics, the new A10 Fusion processor that speeds them up impressively, and are dust- and waterproof. ‘As the Russian mobile Internet market leader, we are happy to see that Apple’s new products support high-speed connection. Over 12m people living

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 19, 2016. Yekaterinburg’s Akademichesky District proved Best Area Development Project in the national Pro-Estate Contest, RSG-Akademicheskoye’s press service reports. The awarding ceremony took place for the first time in the course of the 10th International Pro-Estate Forum. The Best Area Development Project category was actually the one with the greatest number of contestants, with fifteen-plus developers submitting their applications. Inteko’s Sadovye Kvartaly and LSR’s Tsvetnoy Gorod were also among the finalists alongside Akademichesky. The forum

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 19, 2016. Ural Airlines are offering a 40% discount on tickets for Moscow-Saint Petersburg and Saint Petersburg-Moscow flights this weekend, the air carrier’s press service says. The offer holds on September 16-18, 2016; tickets can be booked on the company website, via their mobile app UralAirlines, and over the phone. Flights will be operated between October 1 2016 and March 25, 2017. ‘Fall is a busy time for Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The two capitals host business conferences, exhibitions, workshops, and so on. Theaters, operas, and culture organizations

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 19, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant and its member enterprise ChTZ Uraltrac presented their promising developments to Sirius Training Center in Sochi, the company press service reports. ‘The head plant handed over its two-axle truck 18-555 and ChTZ gave the center its exhibition sample of the T Series six-cylinder Diesel engine 6T370. The two products will now make part of Sirius’s permanent exhibition and will serve to educate high school and college students as well as promote interest in machine-building and vehicle-manufacturing industries,’

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 16, 2016. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s Holistic Risk Management Director Dmitri Zavyalov is confident the Central Bank won’t let the refinancing rate decline by any more than 0.5%. ‘Russia’s inflation rate has been gradually going down for the last few months, from 7.5% in June down to 6.9% in August, for example. People’s inflation expectations are also changing. Based on the Central Bank’s August 2016 report, the number of survey respondents who expect the inflation to slow down next year rose by 2%, up to 18% altogether. At the same

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 16, 2016. Ural Airlines are introducing a new Yekaterinburg-Tbilisi flight on October 31, 2016. The flight will be available throughout the entire winter season. According to the company press service, prices start from 130 euros (one way) and 260 euros (round trip), excluding the fees. Flights will be operated every Monday on the European concern Airbus’s liners that have both Economy and Business seat options. ‘Georgia is a great place to go any time of the year. The long (sun)bathing season means you can go for a plunge in the sea even in late fall. Snow, on

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 16, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Kamensk-Uralsky Foundry Plant (KULZ) is going to have a warplane from the eighties installed at the plant entrance, the company press service reports. ‘A SU-17 will be mounted on a pedestal to become both the plant’s and the city’s landmark. The plane parts that are currently lying around waiting to be put together are already getting lots of attention from passers-by and neighboring plants’ workers,’ the press service says. The plane parts, delivered in several installments from a military unit in Orenburg Region, are

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 16, 2016. Rosset’s Federal Grid Company got fourteen of its 110-kilowatt and 220-kilowatt voltage transformer sets replaced with new ones at Urengoy, a 220-kilowatt substation in Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Region. Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems Western Siberia’s PR & Media Center reports the replacement resulted in more reliable power supply to the largest oil and gas companies in the area and to the town of Novy Urengoy (population over 110,000 people). ‘Transformer sets got replaced within the framework of the company’s investment program. The

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 16, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation is currently taking part in the international military exhibition Africa Aerospace & Defence at Watercloof military base in Pretoria, SAR (open since September 14). The company press service reports the corporation’s stand features models of products by three of its member enterprises: Ural Vagon Zavod (Nizhniy Tagil), Omsktransmash (Omsk), and Uraltransmash (Yekaterinburg). The corporation is demonstrating its fire support vehicle Terminator, the tanks T-90S and T-72, and the heavy rocket propelled flame thrower

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 15, 2016. Farmers based in Sverdlovsk Region’s Irbit, Sysert, and Shalya Districts are by now fully done with harvesting of grains and pulses, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s website states. All in all, 90% of this year’s grain yield have already been harvested in the area, with 580,000 kg of grains collected for the winter. Also, 85,000,000 kg of potatoes have been harvested off nearly 6,000 hectares of land and stored for the winter. A year earlier, only 15% of all local potatoes had got harvested by September 13, 2015. Farmers keep working on collecting this

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 15, 2016. The international fast food chain McDonald’s reports it will have to lay off 729 employees in Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Region Labor & Employment Department’s press secretary Olga Ruleva informed UrBC. ‘A McDonald’s representative said 729 people would be let go on October 31. It is not clear as of yet just which and how many of Yekaterinburg-based restaurants will close down,’ she said. According to Ruleva, a new employer called Regional Catering Network is willing to take on most of McDonald’s former workers provided they want this new job. Now

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 15, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation presented its produce at the 2nd International Import Substitution Exhibition at Moscow’s Crocus City Center on September 13-15. According to the company press service, the exhibition features stands by Russian businesses operating in nearly all economic sectors there are, including machine-building, healthcare, construction, transport, agribusiness, consumer goods, computer developments, hi tech solutiosn for the oil and gas industry, and so on. Ural Vagon Zavod presented five life-size samples at its stand: these were