UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 21, 2019. The fourth gas-filtering/dust-trapping unit got recently launched at EVRAZ Consolidated West-Siberian Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ ZSMK) Sintering Plant. The launch of the unit signified the end of gas-filtering facility renovation process. The plant’s PR Department reports the four filtering units that are now all active process 900,000 m3 of air every hour, with filtering efficiency at 99%. The sock filters within the units are very efficient in trapping dust (which can then get recycled). Moreover, ZSMK managed to reduce its sintering plant’s harmful

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 21, 2019. Students on ChelPipe Group’s Future of White-Coated Metallurgy Training Program won ten medals at the 7th Sverdlovsk Region round of the blue-collar skills championship WorldSkills Russia. This means the Group’s team came 9th in the contest of 79 competing local schools and colleges, the Group’s press service reports. The company’s current students and future employees competed in eight different categories: Reverse Engineering, Industrial Robotics, Prototyping, CAD Engineering, NC Milling, Industrial Automation, Industrial Mechanics & Assembly, and

UrBC, Moscow, February 21, 2019. Expert RA carried with a preliminary report on the Russian lending market for small and medium enterprises in 2018. The amount of loans issued to SMEs rose by 11% last year compared with the year 2017 and came to RUB 6.8 trillion; this is the closest the figures have got to the pre-recession year 2014 (RUB 6.9 trillion) so far, the rating agency’s press service reports. These were primarily the larger players that shaped the market dynamics: the share of loans issued to SMEs by the country’s top thirty banks rose to 74% in 2018 against 66% one year earlier;

UrBC, Moscow, February 21, 2019. Russia’s retail trade turnover rose by 1.6% in January 2019 compared with January 2018 (in comparable prices) and reached RUB 2.489 trillion, Rosstat reports. In monthly terms, the trade turnover dropped by 25.3%, whereas in December 2018, the retail trade turnover rose by 2.3% against December 2017. As for the year 2018 on the whole, the retail trade turnover went up by 2.6% compared with one year previously. ‘The share of food items (including beverages) and tobacco products in the overall retail trade structure came to 48.3%; that of non-food items came to

UrBC, Moscow, February 21, 2019. The amount of foreign currency Russians bought in December 2018 dropped by 11% compared with November 2018 and thus came to $5.1bn, the Central Bank of Russia’s Bank of Russia Publications state. The overall demand for foreign currency includes both actual banknotes purchased through banks and the money taken out of foreign currency accounts. According to the CBR, the demand for foreign currency dropped by 11% in December 2018 compared with November 2018 and came to $5.1bn. Compared with December 2016 and 2017, the demand dropped by 24% and 21%, respectively.

UrBC, Moscow, February 20, 2019. Russia faced $6.3bn in losses through trade sanctions, excise duties, and protectionist measures taken by a number of counters last year, the Economy Ministry’s recent report on the external market barriers indicates. 62 countries imposed 159 limitations on Russian goods altogether. These were mainly protectionist tariffs and import duties, extra licensing requirements, quotas, technical setbacks, sanitary barriers, and sanctions. Russia’s economy suffered most from the EU sanctions ($2.4bn), U.S. sanctions ($1.1bn), and the sanctions imposed by Ukraine

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 20, 2019. Sverdlovsk Region’s industrial production index (IPI) dropped by 20.9% in January 2019 compared with December 2018 and by 3.2% compared with January 2018. According to Sverdlovskstat, the IPI declined by 44.6% in the fossil production sector in January 2019 against December 2018 (and by 30.2% against January 2018). The IPI went down by 20.4% in the processing industries in January 2019 against December 2018 (and by 2.7% against January 2018). The index also rose by 16.1% in the sector for production and distribution of electric power, natural gas, and

UrBC, Moscow, February 20, 2019. ChelPipe’s credit rating was recently affirmed by Expert RA at ruA+, with Stable rating outlook, the rating agency reports. Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant Group (ChelPipe Group) is an industrial group of metallurgical companies and a major pipe manufacturing business. The Group’s key production assets are based in Chelyabinsk (Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant/ChelPipe), Pervouralsk (Pervorualsk New Pipe Plant/PNTZ), Almetyevsk, and Izhevsk (Rimera). ChelPipe and PNTZ were responsible for some 55% and 35% of the Group’s consolidated profits in 2017, respectively.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 20, 2019. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) is launching a special offer on its mortgage programs. According to the bank’s press service, under the terms of the offer people applying for mortgage can get 0.35% off their annual interest rate if they manage to proceed with the deal within thirty days of the bank approving of their application. The final interest rate might be even lower than the base rate applicable to a particular banking product, be it a mortgage on an existing home, paying off a mortgage issued by another bank, or a

UrBC, Moscow, February 20, 2019. RUB 1.38 billion worth of unauthorized plastic card transactions took place on the Russian market in 2018, Russia’s Central Bank’s report on last year’s unauthorized transfers indicates. It is reported that the unauthorized transactions involving cards issued within Russia amounted to RUB 1.384 billion in 2018, up 44% on the year 2017, when the figure was RUB 961.3 million. The number of such transitions also went up by 31.4% and came to 416,900. This amounted to 0.0018% of all the credit/debit card transactions last year (compared with 0.0016% in 2017). This

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, February 19, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) expert committees looked into 5,792 improvement proposals submitted by workers last year; 3,872 proposals (66.8%) got accepted as expedient and were scheduled for introduction. Most of these proposals have to do with job safety, industrial safety, energy efficiency, and resource saving. According to MMK’s Information & PR Department, the company went through with 2,579 proposals last year and saved RUB 453.6 million. The plant’s Blast Furnace Department saved the most: RUB 124.1 million. The Heavy Plate

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 19, 2019. Sovcombank is going to finance Rosatom Corporation’s project on upgrading water supply and sewage infrastructure in Lesnoy, Sverdlovsk Region, Rusatom Infrastructure Solutions LLC’ press service reports. The papers to this effect got signed by Rosatom Corporation, Rusatom Infrastructure Solutions-Lesnoy (Rosatom Corporation’s member enterprise), and Sovcombank at Russian Investment Forum in Sochi on February 15, 2019. Lesnoy’s water supply and sewage infrastructure got built back in the sixties to the eighties and has grown quite old. Rusatom

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 19, 2019. EVRAZ Consolidated West-Siberian Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ ZSMK) Testing Center got its rail-testing license renewed by Russia’s Federal Accreditation Service; this means the plant can now carry out all kinds of certification tests on its own site, with the exception of bench trials and field tests. According to the company’s press service, they can keep on testing the rails for geometrical dimensions, surface quality, alignment, chemical composition, mechanical properties, macro- and microstructure, and residual stress in the rail web. EVRAZ ZSMK also

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 19, 2019. Ural Airlines introduce two new direct flights from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport to Montpellier and Bordeaux. According to the air carrier’s press service, Moscow-Bordeaux flights will be available every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday starting June 1; Moscow-Montpellier flights will be available every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday starting June 2. You can now choose your personalized France experience: the Atlantic or the Mediterranean. Prices start from RUB 4,573 (one way) for cabin-luggage-only ticket type (introduced on February 1). ‘Bordeaux is often

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 19, 2019. EVRAZ Holding and the Moscow-based Gruppa Tovarishchei Production Studio are going to create a children’s movie called A Danger-Free Town. The movie will focus on safety rules applicable in urban environments and will be run on the Russian television channel Carousel International and other children’s channels starting in May. According to EVRAZ Holding Ural’s PR Department, the production team will start working on the thirty-minute film in the Urals this April. Students of Nizhniy Tagil and Kachkanar acting schools will be featured in the movie along

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 18, 2019. Ural Airlines will start operating their usual summer flights from Khabarovsk and Vladivostok to Krasnodar at the end of May, the air carrier’s press service reports. Khabarovsk-Krasnodar and Krasnodar-Khabarovsk flights (via Irkutsk) will become available on Tuesdays and Mondays, respectively, starting May 21. Vladivostok-Krasnodar and Krasnodar-Vladivostok flights (via Novosibirsk) will become available on Saturdays and Fridays, respectively, starting May 25. ‘These flights are part of the airline’s summer sale program, so you can book your tickets

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 18, 2019. Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems is putting up new supports for the electric mains involved in Beloyarskaya Nuclear Power Plant’s power transfer system. ‘The supports are getting replaced at a marshy section of our 220-kilowatt Beloyarskaya-Mramornaya Main following a diagnostic examination of the power facility. The renovation is expected to make the power transfer from the nuclear plant to Sverdlovsk Region and Chelyabinsk Region’s power grids even more reliable,’ says FGC UES Ural PR & Media Group. The company is replacing the old,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 18, 2019. The number of smartphones which their owners get insured against mechanical or water damage and other accidents doubled at MegaFon Ural’s retail outlets last year. On average, one insurance policy got issued every hour, the company’s press service says. Smartphones tend to get damaged mechanically after getting dropped on the floor, getting hit against something hard, or getting smashed by something heavy falling on top of them: these are the problems eight out of ten customers complain about. Water inside a smartphone is the second most popular

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 18, 2019. KORTROS Group keeps introducing the latest technologies available in the construction industry and thus contributes greatly to modern urban development. Russia’s Construction Ministry, National Competence Centre for Smart Cities, and KORTROS Group signed an agreement on February 14 to use the Group’s solutions in the National Smart City Project, RSG-Akademicheskoye’s press service reports. The agreement was signed by President of KORTROS Group Veniamin Golubitsky and Head of National Competence Centre for Smart Cities Oksana Demchenko. ‘Our Smart Flat

UrBC, Moscow, February 18, 2019. ChelPipe Group’s shareholder Andrei Komarov took part in the plenary session (Success Factors: Ideas, People, Skills) of Russian Investment Forum in Sochi. The session was chaired by Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, the Group’s press service reports. Government officials, experts, and members of the business community, including Governor of Perm Territory Maxim Reshetnikov, the Agency for Strategic Initiatives’ Director-General Svetlana Chupsheva, and Rector of Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO Marat Atnashev, talked about their plans to work on the