April 28, 2015. 260,800 new passenger and commercial vehicles were sold in 25 Russian cities with population of over 500,000 people in January, February, and March 2015. This was 41% less than a year earlier. The market shrank more noticeably in these cities than it did in the country on the whole (-36%), Avtostat reports. The car markets declined by over 50% in three cities: Ufa (-59%), Tyumen (-55%), and Yekaterinburg (-52%), while those of Novosibirsk (-29%), Togliatti (-32%), Kazan (-33%), Naberezhniye Chelny (-33%), and Krasnodar (-34%) look a bit better than others.

April 28, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises are faced with the shortage of funds necessary to work on import replacement, Sverdlovsk Region Industry Minister Andrei Misyura said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. ‘For import replacement to become a reality, quite a lot of money needs to be invested in R&D and production expansion. Not every enterprise can afford this, as quite a few businesses’ profitability still remains considerably below the Central Bank’s refinancing rate,’ he said. According to the Minister, there are, nevertheless, 126 large-scale import replacement

April 28, 2015. Sberbank cancelled rental agreements for 177 of its branches in large Russian cities, the bank’s press service reports. Sberbank decided to annul rental agreements for 177 of its branches located in cities with population of over 100,000 people. The decision had to be taken because, despite the earlier arrangements, the owners refused to reduce the rent and keeping these offices therefore grew inexpedient,’ the press service explains. For one, Sberbank branch in ComsoMall Shopping Center in Yekaterinburg will be closed down, as will the one at 61 Lenin St in Chelyabinsk. The

April 27, 2015. Pipe Metallurgical Company/TMK Board of Directors met on April 23 to announce that the company’s annual general meeting would be held at 1/15 Kotelnicheskaya St in Moscow at 12 PM on June 23, 2015. TMK BOD proposed the following agenda for the meeting: the company’s annual report, the annual accounting report, distribution of profit made in the year 2014, and electing the BOD members. The following candidates were proposed: M. Yu. Alexeyev, E.E. Blagova, P. O’Brien, A.B. Chubais, B. Foresman, A.Yu Kaplunov, I.B. Khmelevsky, S.T. Papin, D.A. Pumpyanski, O.A. Shchegolev, A.N.

April 27, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation is getting all the interior and exterior finishing jobs done and engineering infrastructure installed at the head plant’s polyclinic now. According to the corporation’s press service, the clinic is being put up to the schedule, with the opening ceremony expected in three to four months. ‘The interior of the multi-storey hall is now being finished. Thanks to a glass roof, the atrium will be completely filled with day light. Also, two panoramic-view elevators made of highly durable glass will be provided. A touch-screen infomat will be installed next

April 27, 2015. Rimera’s R&D Center and ChTPZ Engineering (both parts of ChTPZ Group) presented their new, advanced drilling equipment at the 12th International Machine Mining 2015 Conference/Exhibtion, the Group’s press service reports. Among the developments presented was a highly reliable, dirt-proof, piston-type protector with a dynamic labyrinth seal, a protector with a retainer ring which ensures the inside of the protector remains airtight, 0615 Series compressor pumps which are suitable for substances with increased mechanical admixtures content (up to 1 gram per liter), and

April 27, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s UVZSHOP.ru now sells DVDs with videos dedicated to combat vehicles made at the corporation’s head plant both at all of its outlets and online. Now all those interested in documentaries and indie films about Russian armored vehicles can buy movies such as T34, the Victory Weapon and Tanks: The Ural Nature. ‘Both films are a story of how Uralvagonzavod’s famous combat vehicles were created and what challenges their creators had to overcome. T34, the Victory Weapon also tells the viewers about the theory behind the unique T34 and about how all the

April 27, 2015. 24% of Urals-based companies have had to face layoffs in the last nine months or are planning to let some workers go in the near future, director of HeadHunter’s Ural branch Anna Khvostova says. ‘Additionally, 9% of local businesses had to cut their workers’ pay by 10% to 15% on average. This was mainly true of office workers, blue-collar workers, reporters, and people in the banking and logistics sectors,’ Khvostova said. According to the executive, Yekaterinburg labor market is nevertheless still in a much better condition now than in was in the recession of 2008 and 2009.

April 24, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region’s food prices rose by 11.4% in March 2015 compared with December 2014; this was 4% more than in March 2014, Sverdlovskstat reports. Food items (excluding alcohol drinks) grew 12.4% more expensive (compared with 3.9% a year earlier). Vegetable prices rose the most, that is, by 47.9%; for one, garlic and cabbage grew 1.8 times more expensive, onions and cucumbers grew 1.6 times and 1.5 times more expensive, respectively, while the price of carrots, frozen vegetables, and potatoes, went up by 43.7%, 42.8%, and 36.1%, respectively. Fruits grew 34% more expensive;

April 24, 2015. The National Rating Agency confirmed the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s national rating at AA, their press service reports. The agency stressed the bank’s prominence on local markets, successful implementation of a chosen strategy, unfailing financial performance, and a conservative approach to risk assessment. The bank is believed to take counter-cycling measures quickly when necessary, which means the company can both react to changing macroeconomic factors and maintain a good asset and liabilities ratio as well as remain solvent and make sure its working

April 24, 2015. Beloyarskaya Nuclear Power Plant’s Power Generating Unit 3 was stopped for scheduled repairs till May 27, 2015. This is the world’s only power-generating unit with a fast-fission reactor that produces electric power on an industrial scale. The unit has generated nearly 135bn kilowatt-hours of electric power in the last thirty-five years and is now responsible for 10% of power output in Sverdlovsk Region. Says Deputy Chief Engineer for Repairs Vladimir Zenitz: ‘The repairs are in full swing; the unit undergoes a wide variety of repair operations every four years; every specific

April 24, 2015. An agreement was signed by Uralvagonzavod Corporation and a number of Cuban industrial enterprises at the 13th Intergovernmental Russian-Cuban Trade & Economic and Scientific & Technological Cooperation Committee meeting in Kazan. The corporation’s press service reports UVZ Logistic, Cuba’s Grupo GESIME and Cuban Railways signed an agreement in the presence of Russian Vice Premier Dmitri Rogozin. The plan is to set up a transportation and logistics joint venture and to get the facilities of Planta Mecánica, a machine-building plant, upgraded. The plant will then deal

April 24, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant is now hosting an exhibition dedicated to the plant trade union’s 80th anniversary, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘The plant’s trade union is the largest one in the machine-building sector. The union was set up in 1922 when the construction of the industrial giant started; the first Collective Agreement was signed in 1933, and the first committee was selected at the trade union meeting in May 1935, which date is considered to mark the establishment of the union,’ the press service says. The opening page of the plant’s first

April 23, 2015. Over 250 residents of Sverdlovsk Region were deceived by a company that promised to pay off their bank loans, Sverdlovsk Region division of the Internal Affairs Ministry’s press service reports. The police say the swindlers operated in Yekaterinburg, Verkhnyaya Salda, Nizhniy Tagil, Nizhnyaya Tura, Kachkanar, Krasnouralsk, Serov, Severouralsk, Kushva, Kamensk Uralsky, and Krasnoturyinsk. ‘Victims signed an agreement with the company to provide 50% of the original loan sum, while the firm promised to pay the bank in full,’ the press service says. The company offices closed down

April 23, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation is taking part in TranRussia, a major international transportation and logistics services and technologies exhibition at Krokus Expo in Moscow. The exhibition opened on April 21. This is the second time the corporation and its daughter enterprise UVZ Logistic have joined the exhibition. UVZ Logistic has managed to become a major railway shipments market player and one of Russia’s top five freight forwarders with 42,000 freight cars since the day it was founded four years ago. Uralvagonzavod Corporation presents its

April 23, 2015. Yekaterinburg Radio Equipment Plant might decide not to pay any dividends for the year 2014; this is what the Board of Directors suggested that the shareholders vote for at the annual general meeting. ‘Our recommendation is to support the proposed profit distribution scheme and not pay any dividends for the year 2014,’ the plant reports.

April 23, 2015. Refinskaya Power Station (a member enterprise of Enel Group) is responsible for one-third of the overall environmental pollution caused by Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises, Interregional Environmental Prosecutor Larissa Larina said in her interview to UrBC. ‘Companies in the energy sector are the primary pollution agents in our area, and Reftinskaya Power Station is the biggest problem. The station still produces 33% of all the harmful emissions in Sverdlovsk Region. A scheduled inspection was carried out there last year, with Rospotrebnadzor checking its compliance with

April 23, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant hosted an off-site meeting of Sverdlovsk Region Legislative Assembly. Members of Social Policy and Infrastructure Development & Housing Policy Committees talked about ways in which large industrial companies and government authorities could cooperate to promote social partnership and improve the city infrastructure, the corporation’s press service reports. Uralvagonzavod HR Director and Nizhniy Tagil Duma deputy Sergey Saranchuk said the plant was implementing its Social Development Program, with focus on physical education and

April 22, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation developed KTsKh-PKM25/0.4, a new tank container with barrel made of composite materials. According to the corporation’s press service, the tank container has no counterparts anywhere else in the world and is a promising new product that will enjoy great demand on the isotainer market: at the moment, the only containers available for multimodal freight forwarding are steel ones. The innovative tank container is meant for transportation of hazardous cargo (including hydrochloric and ortho-phosphoric acids and natron) by automobile, sea, and 1,520-mm

April 22, 2015. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant/PNTZ (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) coordinated the second audit procedure at its aviation goods department and its authorized central testing lab. The audit was conducted by Material (an agency approved by the Interstate Aviation Committee’s Aviation Register), PNTZ press service reports. The company says the Interstate Aviation Committee experts spoke very highly of the plant’s data selection, processing, and analysis system, its unfailing product quality and technology, and great skills of the staff in charge. At the end of the audit