UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 20, 2019. Nizhniy Tagil Children’s Art Center is working on the filming of The Magical Straw Shoes, a Russian folk tale, with support from EVRAZ Holding. The center’s filming project won a grant within the framework of EVRAZ Holding’s social investment program. The company allocated RUB 450,000 for the project. According to EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Communications Center, the filming appliances (studio lights, camera lenses, props and special effect fixtures, stage make up, and hard drives to store the footage) have already been purchased. ‘The movie itself will

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 20, 2019. Ural Airlines will be operating an extra Samara-Baku-Samara flights starting June 10; the existing Friday flights will get complemented with a Monday one, the air carrier’s press service reports. Prices start from RUB 7,200 (Samara-Baku) and from RUB 9,800 (Baku-Samara). ‘The capital of Azerbaijan has something to offer to every member of your family. Travelers coming from Samara will be able to look at Baku’s Flame Towers, visit the Heydar Aliyev Center, go on a tour of Azerbaijan Carpet Museum, or try and solve the Mystery of the Maiden Tower. You can also

UrBC, Moscow, May 20, 2019. Both private borrowers and financing organizations might find themselves trapped through over-intensive consumer lending currently unfolding on the Russian market, Bank of Russia’s First Deputy Head Dmitri Tulin said at the State Duma Finance Market Committee’s recent meeting. According to Interfax, Tulin believes that while an increase in consumer lending is a natural process that shouldn't get artificially restrained, the speed of the said process is starting to look alarming. There’s a possibility that this could leave both the customers and the banks

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 20, 2019. Yekaterinburg’s Shopping Index Watcom (an online update on how many people come to shopping malls and supermarket chains every week) rose by 1.3% during the first May break and by 7% during the second one, Watcom Group’s research findings indicate. ‘Week 19 of last year was a nice and warm one, so quite a few people spent their days in the countryside. This year, the rainy weather might have contributed to the increased shopping mall traffic. In Moscow, for example, our Shopping Index only rose by 1% during the first May break and dropped by 3.6% during the

UrBC, Moscow, May 20, 2019. Russia’s Communications Ministry turned down the Russian Association of Internet Trade Companies’ initiative to charge a 20% customs duty on every purchase Russians make at international online stores, Izvestia reports. According to the Russian Government’s analytical center’s calculations, a 20% customs duty would result in growing prices and in RUB 121 billion a year in extra tax burden for the Russian shoppers. The proposed initiative will most likely result in an increased end user burden, given the expected rise in the price of an imported item; even if the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 17, 2019. MegaFon opened a new store in Yekaterinburg featuring smart gadgets and interactive product demonstration, the company’s press service reports. The new shop can be found in Greenwich Mall at 46 Vosmoye Marta St. Visitors can have direct access to the advanced devices that you can test, hold in your hands, use to take a few sample pictures, unlock to take a look at the user interface, and compare with similar items in an online store. Sales assistants in the store can also help you get a bank card, set up your personal MegaFon account online, and register

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 17, 2019. 2,477,597 people flew with Ural Airlines in January-April 2019 (+8% on a year earlier); 1,258,815 passengers went on the airline’s domestic flights and 1,218,782 passengers traveled internationally. According to the air carrier’s press service, the airline operated 17,674 flights in the first four months of the year (+5% on the year 2018), including 9,059 domestic flights and 8,615 international flights. The passenger turnover rose by 10% and reached 6,117,793,000 passenger-kilometers. 696,515 people flew with Ural Airlines in April 2019, which exceeded the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 17, 2019. EVRAZ Holding’s West Siberian Metallurgical Plant’s major power station is currently being upgraded, with gradual replacement of electric filters responsible for removing ash particles (the byproduct of coal-burning) from smoke gases, EVRAZ Holding Siberia’s Corporate Communications Center reports. ‘The upgraded filters ensure high-quality (98.5%) filtering of smoke gases and reduce our ash emissions by 3,000,000 kg a year. Investing in filter upgrades is one of EVRAZ West Siberian Metallurgical Plant’s top priority environmental programs. So far, the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 17, 2019. Sverdlovsk Region recently came sixteenth in the national rating of average car loan amount issued by banks in a given constituency. In February 2019, Sverdlovsk Region-based banks issued RUB 748,485 per car loan on average; a month later, the figure decreased by 6.8%. Sverdlovsk Region also came sixth (out of forty) in terms of the number of newly issued car loans; 2,775 car loans got issued in the constituency in March 2019 (+40% on February, when the number was 1,982). In Russia on the whole, the average car loan amount came to RUB 729,200 in March 2019,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 17, 2019. Every one in ten people in Sverdlovsk Region lives below poverty line, Svedlovskstat reports. According to the preliminary data available for 2018, there are currently 419,700 people in the constituency (9.7% of the total population count) wth incomes below living wage. In 2017, the figure was 424,300 (9.8%).

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 16, 2019. The 8th International Made in Steel 2019 Exhibition opened in Milan this week; Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) is taking part in the event. According to the company’s Information & PR Department, the exhibition takes place on May 14-16. The focus of the exhibition is steel-making equipment, machines, and tools; technologies, spare parts and components, and services for the companies in the metal treatment sector; and innovative solutions in the field of industrial automation and robotics. ‘Italy has long been MMK’s leading trade partner in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 16, 2019. EVRAZ Holding’s Yesaulskaya Mine was founded thirty-five years ago this month, EVRAZ Raspadskaya Coal Company’s PR Department reports. Yesaulskaya was one of the last mines to get launched in the USSR. The construction began within 20 km of Novokuznetsk in 1979; in May 1984, the mine got launched for industrial use. The miners started producing at least 1,000,000,000 kg of coal a year in 1997; only two years later, the smallest annual output reached 2,000,000,000 kg. Yesaulskaya miners set up the local production record-setting teams’ movement in 1999 and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 16, 2019. Workers from ChelPipe Group’s Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant (ChelPipe), Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ), SOT, ETERNO, Alnas, and Izhneftemash all took part in the clean-up days in their respective towns. ‘More than 3,500 ‘white-coated metallurgists’ helped clean up 150 hectares of parks and streets in the towns where the Group operates. Students on ChelPipe Group’s Future of White-Coated Metallurgy Corporate Training Program, activists from the NGO Gorod Pervykh, and employees of the Group’s social infrastructure facilities also took part in the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 16, 2019. Ural Airlines will start operating Yekaterinburg-Magadan flights on June 3. According to the air carrier’s press service, the airline offers an extra discount on the state-subsidized tickets to Magadan for the first one and a half months: prices start from RUB 5,000 (one way) on May 15-June 30, 2019. Also, the prices for Moscow-Magadan flights (via Yekaterinburg) start from RUB 7,488 (one way, all fees included). The new Yekaterinburg-Magadan flights (with a stopover in Yakutsk) will get operated once a week on Mondays; Magadan-Yekaterinburg flights will get

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 16, 2019. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s customers spent money in eighty-four different countries during May break, the bank’s press service reports. ‘Europe proved by far the most popular travel destination, with UBRD customers checking in in forty different countries in the Old World. Australia and Oceania were the most exotic destinations our customers traveled to, whilst the countries in Western Asia were the ones where our customers spent the most,’ the press service says. According to the bank’s data, the most customer money got spent in

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, May 15, 2019. The 4th Specialized Exhibition and Steel Structures Business Platform in Russia/Steel Structures 2019 opened in Moscow on May 14. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) and the metal goods plant MMK METIZ are both taking part in the event. According to MMK’s Information & PR Department, the two companies’ stand features a wide range of products and technological solutions that will interest metal structure manufacturers. This particular produce type is the one MMK focuses on specifically. ‘We sold more than 630,000,000 kg of metal goods directly to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 15, 2019. Borrowers based in Ural Federal District took out nearly 31,000 mortgages (total amount: RUB 61 billion) in the first quarter of the year; this was 7.8% less than one year earlier in terms of the number of loans taken and 1% less in terms of the total amount. According to the Central Bank of Russia’s Ural division’s press service, respective mortgage period is 17 years and 7 months long on average (as of April 1, 2019), compared with 16 years and 2 months as of April 1, 2018. The average mortgage amount rose from RUB 1.9 million to RUB 2 million. Ural

UrBC, Moscow, May 15, 2019. Russia’s Industry & Trade Ministry suggests that alcohol should not be used in pharmaceutical products. The draft bill with all the amendments is now available at regulation.gov.ru. The proposed amendments would modify Federal Act 171 FZ (On State Regulation of Production and Circulation of Ethyl Alcohol and Alcohol Products and Restriction on Alcohol Consumption) and Federal Act 61 FZ (On Circulation of Medicines). It is explained that the ban has been proposed because there is a need for stricter control over circulation and application of ethyl alcohol and

UrBC, Moscow, May 15, 2019. United Company RUSAL’s net profit (calculated in accordance with the IAS) reached $273m in the first quarter of 2019, which was 49.8% less than one year earlier, the company reports. UC RUSAL’s revenues dropped by close to 21%, down to $2.17bn. According to UC RUSAL’s Director-General Evgeny Nikitin, last year’s events had their full effect on the company’s performance in the first quarter of the year; among other things, this holds true for the OFAC sanctions that only got lifted on January 27, 2019. The OFAC’s policy resulted in changes in the company’s sales

UrBC. Moscow, May 15, 2019. Russia’s car imports dropped by 8% in the first three months of the year (total number: 61,500 units), Autostat reports. According to Autostat, $1.6934 billion worth of automobiles got imported in Russia in January-March 2019. The number of cars imported in March (29,300 units worth $826.3m altogether) exceeded that of cars imported in February by 43.7%. It is also reported that the imports of freight trucks rose by 23.4% (up to 6,000 units worth $489.9m altogether) in January-March 2019; 2,700 units (worth $193.3m altogether) got imported in March alone, which