UrBC, Magnitogorsk, June 19, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) floated a five-year Eurobond issue (total amount: $500m) at 4.375%, with coupon yield to get paid out twice a year, MMK’s Information, PR & Advertising Department reports. This is the first time the company has entered the international debt capital market in the last fifteen years. The money will get added to the general corporate spending-related budget. ‘Our offer for subscription resulted in the amount of bids exceeding the proposed bond issue amount by more than 4.5 times. At the height of the bookbinding

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 18, 2019. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ NTMK) intends to expand its electric power output by using secondary energy resources (i.e the blast furnace gas that is the by-product of cast iron smelting at Blast Furnace 7), EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Communications Center reports. ‘The plan is to put up a gas expansion turbine station with the top-pressure recovery turbine GUBT 16, a generator unit, and an electric grid. There will also be the modern automated gas-analyzing units and fire-fighting appliances. The blast furnace gas will get

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, June 18, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) heavy-duty, wear-resistant MAGSTRONG steels won a certificate and a gold medal at the 26th International Trade Fair for Coal Mining Technology, Preparation and Materials Handling/UGOL ROSSII & MINING, MMK’s Information, PR & Advertising Department reports. The contest committee awarded the company in Road-Building & Mining Appliances, Machines, & Mechanisms, Excavators, Loaders, Earth-Moving Equipment, & Surface Planing Machines. MMK’s innovative steels are used extensively for this equipment

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 18, 2019. Novouralsk-based asset of Rosatom’s Ural Electrochemical Combine Ecoalliance Ltd designed special catalytic systems to reduce the toxic impact of AvtoVAZ automobiles so as to get them to comply with the Euro 6c and Euro 6d emission standards, Ural Electrochemical Combine’s press service reports. The company also tested the systems in question. The application of the systems would mean Lada cars could still get sold on the EU markets even after the stricter environmental regulations come into effect. ‘The need to design new catalytic systems for exhaust gas

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 18, 2019. The average mortgage amount issued by Sverdlovsk Region-based banks to loan applicants rose from RUB 2.097m to RUB 2.182m (+4.1%) in the first quarter of 2019 compared with one year earlier, the National Credit History Bureau’s press service reports. This was the smallest increase in the average mortgage amount among the country’s top thirty constituencies with the largest retail lending markets. In Russia on the whole, the average mortgage amount rose to RUB 2.38m (+17.3%, or RUB 350,600) in the first quarter of the year. In January-March, the largest

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 18, 2019. Ural Customs’ officers identified and detained more than 400,000 international postal shipments with restricted or banned types of goods inside in 2018, the customs’ press service reports. ‘The items in question are brass knuckles, bludgeons, watches, lighters, hidden camera/recorder glasses, fish nets, pills/lozenges containing super-potent substances, and goods emitting strong ionizing radiation. That said, the overall share of such parcels only comes to under 0.6% of all international shipments all in all,’ the press service says. According to Head of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 17, 2019. Ural Airlines and the international payment system JCB are announcing their new partnership, which they begin with a special cashback option for the JCB cardholders at Gazprombank, the air carrier’s press service reports. You can book your tickets for Ural Airlines’ flights on the company website www.uralairlines.com or on the mobile app on June 1-30, 2019, use your Gazprombank’s JCB card to pay for the purchase, and get your 10% cashback bonus. ‘If you don’t have a JCB card yet, you can apply for one at any of Gazprombank’s branches. You can use the card

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 17, 2019. Miners from EVRAZ Holding’s Yerunakovskaya 8 Mine extracted 1,000,000,000 kg of coal in four months. Alexander Lyane’s team from the mine’s Section 1 produced the entire amount from a single coal-bed in just four months, EVRAZ Holding Siberia’s Corporate Communications Center reports. EVRAZ Vice President and Director-General at Raspadskaya Coal Company Sergey Stepanov congratulated the team on their record output. These 1,000,000,000 kg of coal got extracted from Coalface 48-6 that got started upon in the spring of 2018. The miners have been using

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 17, 2019. The awarding ceremony for the winners of the Competitive Sales Leader Award 2019 took place during the annual Supplier’s Day Forum in Moscow this week. MMK Group’s MMK Trading House won in the contest as Import Substitution Leader. ‘The Competitive Sales Leader Award is the annual industry-specific contest for companies dealing in corporate and state-run purchases on electronic platforms. The contest gets coordinated by B2B-Center. This year, 440 companies from all over the country competed for prizes in nine different categories. Independent market

UrBC, Moscow, June 17, 2019. ‘On 14 June 2019, the Bank of Russia Board of Directors decided to cut the key rate by 25 bp to 7.50% per annum,’ the bank’s press release on the CBR’s website states. ‘Annual inflation slowdown is continuing. In May, households’ inflation expectations and business price expectations did not materially change and remain elevated. Economic growth in the first half of 2019 is lower than the Bank of Russia’s expectations. Short-term proinflationary risks have abated compared to March. In these circumstances, in line with the pursued monetary policy, the Bank of

UrBC, Moscow, June 17, 2019. The Central Bank of Russia lowered its GDP growth forecast for the year 2019, the bank’s press release on the CBR’s website says. ‘Taking into account GDP growth statistics for 2018 — 2019 Q1 published by Rosstat, the Bank of Russia lowered its GDP growth forecast for 2019 from 1.2-1.7% to 1.0-1.5%. Subsequent years might see higher economic growth rates as national projects are implemented,’ the press release states. According to the bank’s analysts, the forecast had to get lowered because the actual GDP growth in the first half of the year did not meet the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 14, 2019. Raspadskaya Coal Company’s Kuznetskpogruztrans is now using three new TEM18DM diesel-locomotive shunters. ‘The modern shunters are fitted with an emergency braking system; the operator’s unit has a small cooker, a thermoelectrical fridge, and an climate control system; there’s a special appliance to keep track of whether the shunter operator stays awake. The shunters are suited to operate within a very broad temperature range (-50 to +40 degrees centigrade), and the window panes are fitted with automatic heating/defrosting units,’ Raspadskaya Coal Company’s

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, June 14, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) won one of the prizes at the 1st all-Russian Best Purchasing Practices 2018 Contest. The prize went to the successful project on optimizing category purchases in online stores. According to MMK’s Information, PR & Advertising Department, the contest was part of the 7th Professional Purchasers League Conference in Armenia. The representatives of twenty major Russian companies, including MMK, Rosnano, Rostelecom, and Energomash gathered together in Yerevan. This is the first time a professional contest got

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, June 14, 2019. Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant (ChelPipe) got audited successfully by Gazprom as the reliable produce supplier for the company, ChelPipe’s press service reports. The audit was focused on the plant’s primary business processes and the production departments’ performance. Upon the completion of the procedure, ChelPipe’s integrated management system got re-certified as fully compliant with the latest version of STO Gazprom 9001-2018 standard within the framework of InterGazCert voluntary certification system. One of the certification criteria the auditors looked

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 14, 2019. SKB-Bank’s customers can now get the loan statements they need online, the bank’s press service reports. There are three types of loan statements available: the ones with information as to the loan repayments the customer has made; the ones on outstanding debt; and the ones with information on the outstanding debt plus the banking information for making payments, the press service explains. To get the statement, you need to sign into your SKB Online account on your mobile device, your computer, or your tablet, go to ‘Loans’, select the specific loan you’re

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 14, 2019. 115,200 new credit cards got issued in Sverdlovsk Region in January-April 2019, which exceeded the figures for one year earlier (94,000) by 22.6%, the National Credit History Bureau’s press service reports. Even more credit cards got issued in Moscow (248,600), Moscow Region (199,600), Krasnodar Territory (157,900), Saint Petersburg (135,800), and Bashkortostan (115,300). In Russia on the whole, 3.88m new credit cards got issued by banks in January-April 2019 altogether, which was 24% more than one year earlier, when the figure was 3.13m.

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, June 13, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) saved more than RUB 500m last year by using a special mathematical model to optimize its coal purchases and spending, MMK’s Information, PR & Advertising Department reports. The savings stemmed from getting better structured coal charge and higher quality coke. ‘The model is part of MMK’s large-scale digitization strategy. The core task is to create a multi-faceted, multi-tier sintering/coke/blast furnace production model that will optimize our first-level processing production flow,’ the company says. According

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 13, 2019. MegaFon, Intel Corporation and ICS Holding’s YADRO signed a technological partnership agreement in order to work on innovative infrastructure products together, MegaFon’s press service reports. The memorandum of intentions was signed by head of ICS Holding and Chair of the BOD at YADRO Anton Cherepennikov, MegaFon’s Director-General Gevork Vermishyan, and Vice President of the Data Center Group/Sales and Marketing Group General Manager at Intel Corporation Rose Schooler. ‘We’re delighted that MegaFon will now work with ICS Holding’s YADRO to develop and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 13, 2019. EVRAZ Holding’s Raspadskaya Coal Company presented its IT solutions for safe mining at the 26th International Trade Fair for Coal Mining Technology, Preparation and Materials Handling/UGOL ROSSII & MINING 2019. The company’s tech experts also gave talks on the new underground mining technologies at forum sessions and round table discussions. According to Raspadskaya Coal Company’s press service, the company’s Mining Dispatcher simulator (a unique development by Job Safety, Industrial Safety, & the Environment Department’s tech experts) won gold at

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 13, 2019. SKB-Bank’s customers can now make their loan payments and add money to their credit card accounts using QIWI terminals. According to the bank’s press service, the option is now available (free of charge and as many times as you wish) at Svyaznoy telecom chain’s outlets. ‘The money gets added to your card account balance immediately. The only clause is the RUB 100,000 payment limit per transaction. To complete the transaction, the store operator will need your full name and the 16-digit card number/20-digit 40817 account number,’ the press service says. The