UrBC, Magnitogorsk, January 25, 2018. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) is currently coordinating its local section of inter-company experience-sharing workshop for job safety and industrial safety experts and managers, MMK Information, PR & Advertising Department reports. ‘In addition to MMK experts, the workshop will also be attended by professionals from Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Works, Novolipetsk Metallurgical Works, Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works, Severstal, Metalloinvest, and Russia’s other leading metallurgical enterprises - around sixty managers and job

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 25, 2018. ChTPZ Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) had its environmental management system certified in accordance with the international ISO 14001:2015 standard requirements, the Group’s press service reports. The certification procedure was carried out by TUV Rheinland. Upon the completion of the audit, the certification body confirmed that PNTZ’s environmental management system met all the strict standards and that the plant introduced all the new regulations at its production sites successfully. The new certificate is now valid for the next three years.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 25, 2018. Sinara Group’s TMK CHERMET worked on a number of projects to bring down its scrap metal-processing facilities’ environmental impact in the Year of The Environment, the Group’s PR Center reports. ‘For one, the company came up with a program for sewage disposal at its production site in Volzhsky and expanded the area of concrete-covered scrap metal storage facilities at its sites in Taganrog, Yekaterinburg, and Engels. Also, training sessions were conducted with employees, accompanied by a number of supporting visual aids on sites.’ ‘The company’s nineteen

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, January 25, 2018. Russian Copper Company’s Chelyabinsk Oblast-based asset Kyshtym Copper Electrolysis Plant (KMEZ) set a new production record last year, making over 128,000,000 kg of copper cathodes (up 5% on the year 2016), Russian Copper Company’s press service reports. This was possible mostly to increased crude copper output at Karabashmed, which is primarily responsible for supplying KMEZ with raw stuffs. Karabashmed made 7% more copper in 2017 than in 2016, with final output at 120,000,000 kg. ‘KMEZ fully switched to mineral stuffs supplied by Russian Copper

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 25, 2018. Sverdlovsk Oblast’s industrial production index (IPI) rose by 3.1% in January through December 2017 compared with the year 2016, Sverdlovskstat reports. More specifically, the IPI increased by 4% in the processing sector and by 5.6% in the sector for production and distribution of electric power, natural gas, and water, and declined by 15.4% in the fossils production sector. At the same time, Sverdlovsk Oblast’s industrial production index shrank by 3% in December 2017 compared with December 2016.

UrBC, Moscow, January 24, 2018. Rostourism came up with a black list of hotels that charge extremely high prices for their rooms during the days of the World Football Championship this year, head of Rostourism Oleg Safonov said in his interview to Rossiyskaya Gazeta. According to Safonov, forty-one hotels in Volgograd, Samara, Kaliningrad, and Rostov Oblasts, in Krasnodar Territory, and in Moscow have been blacklisted so far. ‘Some of the hotels charge 260% more than their normal price, or even higher. We intend to publish the list in the nearest future; the list is based on our checks of how

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 24, 2018. 463,511 consumer loans were issued to Sverdlovsk Oblast-based borrowers last year, which exceeded the figures for one year previously by 25.2%, National Credit History Bureau’s research findings indicate. In Russia on the whole, 15.25 loans got issued, which was 20.9% more than in 2016. ‘Banks have been offering more consumer loans to their applicants as the economy is gradually growing more stable. Both creditors and borrowers (who started coming to banks for loans once again) proved more active last year. The factors at work were reduced interest rates

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 24, 2018. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) is going to supply to Rosneft 8,000,000 kg of hi tech pumping and compression pipes with 13% Сr (Chrome 13) content and TMK UP PF premium, gas-proof threaded joints, the company press service reports. Based on the terms of the tender, TMK is to deliver the pipes to Rosneft’s daughter enterprises RN Vankor, RN Stavropolneftegaz, and ROSPAN International. The entire shipment will be manufactured at Sinara Pipe Plant. The pipes will get delivered to customer in 2018-2019. TMK has been supplying pipes to Rosneft with 13%

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 24, 2018. Sverdlovsk Oblast’s heating power end users owe their supplier Energosbyt Plus more than RUR 5.5bn in unpaid bills as of January 1, 2018, the supplier’s press service reports. Yekaterinburg remains the problem city, with unpaid debts at some RUR 4.2bn. The end users based in Nizhnyaya Tura and Lesnoy owe RUR 554m and RUR 210m, respectively. The primary debtors are actually the public housing services companies (their debt stands at RUR 4.3bn), followed by a number of state-run organizations (RUR 260m), industrial enterprises (RUR 65m), and private

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 24, 2018. SKB-Bank was among the top Housing Mortgage Lending Agency’s loan refinancing banks and proved No.1 bank with the most popular loan offers, the bank’s press service refers to BankInformService’s rating as stating. According to this rating, Sverdlovsk Oblast’s mortgage market hit a peak last year and did better than even in 2014. The overall market growth reached a whopping 43% compared with the year 2016. Experts single out three primary mortgage lending trends: increased demand for loan refinancing, discounts offered by housing developers, and dropping

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 23, 2018. Sinara Group’s Sinara Development completed the foundation for Yekaterinburg EXPO Congress Center, the Group’s PR Center reports. ‘2,600 bored and driving piles were placed on the construction site, and the upper section of the foundation got assembled as well. The necessary foundation frame got installed earlier to ensure the bearing structures’ workload can get evenly distributed across the area,’ the Center says. Workers are now busy assembling the building’s metal framework, with 1,600,000 kg of metalwork out of 5,000,000 kg already in place.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 23, 2018. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) sold 3.806m tons of pipes to customers last year, which exceeded the figures for a year earlier by 10.6%, TMK press service reports. The increase was mainly due to the company selling more pipes from its American division as the North American market showed signs of recovery. TMK sold 11.6% more weld-less pipes in 2017 than in 2016 (2.676m tons), mostly because of increased OCTG shipments. The company also shipped 8.4% more welded pipes to customers last year than one year earlier (1.129m tons). The considerable drop in

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, January 23, 2018. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) came first in the national rating of zinc-coated and paint-coated rolled metal goods according to Metallosnabzheniye I Sbyt magazine, MMK Information & PR Department reports. The magazine carries its rating of Russia’s leading ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgical enterprises and their suppliers on a regular basis. The latest issue features the rating for the second half of 2017. MMK has remained on top of this rating as the best zinc- and paint-coated rolled metal goods producer for over two years now. In

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 23, 2018. Alexander Malov was appointed MegaFon Ural’s Mass Market Sales Director, the telecommunications provider’s press service reports. Alexander Malov graduated from Tomsk State University with a degree in Innovative Marketing. He’s been working in marketing, sales, and customer service for eight years now. The 28-year-old Malov came to MegaFon in 2011. Prior to his appointment at MegaFon Ural, Malov worked as Head of Commerce at MegaFon’s Abakan branch. His move to the Urals means a wider range of new responsibilities as well as a geographical expansion.

UrBC, Moscow, January 23, 2018. France decided not to apply for the right to host the EXPO 2025 Exhibition, Rossiyskaya Gazeta refers to Le Journal du Dimanche as stating. ‘It is my decision not to support France as a possible exhibition host, so the application will be withdrawn,’ says a letter sent by Prime Minister Édouard Philippe to President of Expofrance 2025 Pascal Lamy. Prime Minister Philippe pointed to ‘the project’s structurally weak economic concept’; he feels pursuing the application further would necessitate ‘state guarantees’. The Prime Minister believes, however, that France

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 22, 2018. Only 2.5% of hotel rooms are still available for the World Football Championship 2018 days in Yekaterinburg; no rooms are available at all for the days of two games out of four, Vedomosti refers to OneTwoTrip’s research findings as indicating. As for other World Cup-hosting towns, there are no available hotel rooms whatsoever in Volgograd or Saratov, while the hotels of Nizhniy Novgorod, Kazan, and Samara are 90% booked. Only Saint Petersburg and Sochi still have plenty of accommodation to offer. Moscow’s hotels are 78% booked, OneTwoTrip’s Business

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 22, 2018. Ural Airlines are offering plane tickets at reduced prices on January 19-22, 2018; you can book your flight using Uralairlines mobile app (and on the company website www.uralairlines.comи if you book through the call center on January 20-21), the air carrier’s press service reports. Prices for a Moscow-Tyumen/Tyumen-Moscow flight start from RUR 2,000; those for Yekaterinburg-Simferopol/Simferopol-Yekaterinburg flight start from RUR 5,000; those for Samara-Simferopol/Simferopol-Samara flight start from RUR 5,500; those for

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, January 22, 2018. The management of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), headed by the company Director-General Pavel Shilyayev, went on a business trip to Lysva Metallurgical Plant (LMZ) in Perm Territory, MMK Information, PR & Advertising Department reports. Pavel Shilyayev met with Governor of Perm Territory Maxim Reshetnikov during this visit. The plant’s DG made a report on MMK Group’s member enterprises’ development strategy; the strategy covers LMZ, which joined MMK Group in December 2017. Governor Reshetnikov said they would support MMK in their

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 22, 2018. Ural Airlines are currently offering special prices on their Yekaterinburg-Dubai flights, the air carrier’s press service reports. You can buy your reduced-price tickets through March 23, 2018; the flights will be operated through March 23, 2018 as well. The flight from Yekaterinburg to Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and back will cost you RUR 17,000 (cabin luggage under 5kg, one piece of luggage under 10kg, and a hot meal included); the tickets are already available for purchase, and the offer is limited. Actual price may vary depending on the rate of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 22, 2018. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) came up with an improved scoring system recently. The bank introduced new software that ensures more precise processing of a borrower’s application, speeds up decision-making, and makes it possible to come up with tailor-made offers for specific customers, the bank’s press service reports. SAS RTDM already comprises the more advanced versions of the technological solutions the UBRD has been relying on (scoring models, decision trees, and external scoring data) as well as offers access to quite new