UrBC, Magnitogorsk, February 10, 2020. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) saved RUB 585.4 million through implementation of workers’ improvement proposals last year. This was 29% more than in the year 2018, MMK’s Information & PR Department reports. ‘Since innovations play such a key role in today’s global industry, companies need to make a special effort to encourage improvement proposals and inventor activity. This is why innovation is now on MMK’s list of priorities,’ the company says. The company has a special system for submitting and implementing improvement proposals that

UrBC, Moscow, February 10, 2020. The Russian Central Bank’s Board of Directors met on February 7 for the first time this year to look into the bank’s lending and monetary policy regulations; the BOD decided to bring the key rate by 25 bp, down to 6% p.a. ‘Inflation slowdown is overshooting the forecast. Households’ inflation expectations and price expectations of businesses remain stable overall. In 2019 H2, the growth rate of the Russian economy picked up. Risks of a substantial global economic slowdown persist. Disinflationary risks still exceed pro-inflationary risks over the short-term

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 10, 2020. A presentation on the company’s urban improvement program will take place in Pervouralsk on February 8, ChelPipe Group’s press service reports. The program is part of a cooperation agreement involving ChelPipe Group, Sverdlovsk Region Government, Pervouralsk Council, and Center for Urban Development (Head: Sergey Kapkov). Sverdlovsk Region Government officials, Mayor of Pervouralsk Igor Kabetz, and Managing Director at ChelPipe Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) Alexei Dronov will all attend the presentation. ‘The town residents will be presented

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 7, 2020. EVRAZ West-Siberian Metal Plant (EVRAZ ZSMK) made over 950,000 kg of rolled section steel items for the construction of Kuzbass Ice Palace in Kemerovo, EVRAZ Holding Siberia’s Corporate Communications Center reports. ‘The goods got shipped by EVRAZ Metall Inprom’s Kemerovo subsidiary. The palace will get built entirely from EVRAZ-supplied metal. Additionally, H-beams made at EVRAZ Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Plant will be used for the framework,’ the company says. ‘The company has contributed to the construction of sports facilities many times

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 7, 2020. NEYVA Bank’s experts believe the coronavirus outbreak that has already affected China’s stock market so badly could have a negative impact on the global economy as well; the U.S. dollar and the Swiss franc could prove the solution to investors’ problems. According to Head of Stock Market Department at NEYVA Bank Dmitri Glebov, China’s economic growth might slow down to an all-time low. ‘It’s hard to assess the actual economic consequences at the moment, but the virus is bound to do some damage to the global economy in any case. Under the circumstances,

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, February 7, 2020. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) supplied more than 9,700,000,000 kg of rolled metal goods to customers on the home market (including the CIS member states) in 2019. This is the largest figure in the company’s entire post-Soviet history, MMK’s Information & PR Department reports. The last time a home market sales record was set was in 2014, when the figure was 9,588,000,000 kg. ‘MMK has been raising its Russian and CIS sales for the last twenty-five years now. In 1996-1999, up to two-thirds of sales were to foreign customers, but the trend

UrBC, Moscow, February 7, 2020. Ural Airlines won the Skyway Service Award in International Chartered Flights through an independent passenger ballot, the air carrier’s press service reports. The solemn awarding ceremony Skyway Service Award 2019 for both national and international airlines took place in Moscow on February 5, 2020. Passengers voted to rank the airlines’ service and special loyalty programs. ‘The awarding ceremony was part of the NAIS 2020 Exhibition. The exhibition has been held for the seventh time this year and serves as a reputable professional platform for new projects,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 7, 2020. The third round of Sverdlovsk Region Junior Futsal Championship took place in Kamensk-Uralsky on February 3-4; Sukhoi Log’s Olympic-FORES (athletes born in 2010 and 2011) won thrice and lost once, OOO FORES’s press service reports. ‘On these same days, Olympic-FORES juniors born in 2006-2007 competed in the fourth round of the championship at Leader Sports Center in Berezovsky. They beat Novouralsk’s Children & Youth Sports School 2 (athletes born in 2007) 8:3, made it into a tie (3:3) with Kachkanar’s Olimp, and were defeated by Novouralsk’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 6, 2020. The average micro-loan amount issued to a Sverdlovsk Region-based borrower came to RUB 8,383 in the last quarter of 2019 (up 5.1% on one year earlier, when the figure was RUB 7,978), the National Credit History Bureau’s research findings indicate. In Russia on the whole, the average micro-loan amount rose by 7.7% in QIV’2019. The trend was for the smallest loan segment (under RUB 10,000) to go down, with a 12.5% drop in the last quarter of 2019 against the last quarter of 2018. ‘The increase in the average micro-loan amount has to do with the shrinking

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 6, 2020. The overall amount of construction jobs carried out on Sverdlovsk Region’s market amounted to RUB 203.4bn in January-December 2019, Sverdlovskstat reports. This is 10.8% less than one year earlier (in comparable prices). ‘As of January 1, 2020, all the construction contracts landed by builders (excluding small enterprises with under fifteen people and sole traders) totaled to RUB 5.3bn; this is expected to keep them busy with orders for 0.9 month(s),’ the town council says.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 6, 2020. Housing developers had 12 new non-residential buildings (total area: 24,700 m2) commissioned in Yekaterinburg in January 2020, the town council’s press service reports. The Urals’ capital now has a number of new industrial, administrative, and multi-purpose structures, shopping spaces, cafes/restaurants, and car maintenance facilities. 22,600 m2 of housing also got commissioned last month (up 12% on January 2019). This amounts to two apartment buildings and 17 one-family houses. This means the total amount of non-residential and residential facilities

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 6, 2020. The staff representatives (known as work collective councils) of OOO FORES’s four branches met in Kuryi on February 4, the company’s press service reports. Chair of Sukhoi Log council Zhanna Russkikh spoke about the new amendments to the plant’s collective agreement that had been proposed by the workers themselves. For one, parents of school-starters used their one-extra-day-of-paid-leave option on September 1. Additionally, the branch now offers more financial aid programs and has managed to improve its drinking water supply for the employees. Chair of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 6, 2020. The adjustage department at EVRAZ Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ NTMK) supported Kindergarten 2 in Petrokamenskoye, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Communications Center reports. ‘Workers from the department built two new verandas instead of the old ones, set up a pram storage room, repaired the central entry porch, fixed the electric oven in the kitchen, and installed new doors at the emergency exit. They also purchased a dozen new plastic-framed windows with support from Sverdlovsk Region Legislative Assembly deputies Vladimir

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 5, 2020. ChelPipe Group’s Board of Directors adopted the company’s development strategy for 2020-2024 and proposed two candidates for the positions of independent representatives. The candidates will have to be approved of (or otherwise) at the upcoming shareholder meeting, the company’s press service reports. ‘The company’s new strategy aims to ensure consistent and sustainable business development through transforming ChelPipe Group into a customer-oriented company. The strategy dwells on increasing high value-added product supply, gradually building the shares

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 5, 2020. Ural Airlines sent a batch of breathing masks to China: these will be handed out at the country’s airports free of charge, the air carrier’s press service reports. ‘China has been facing breathing mask shortage since the outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in the country. Locals are forced to think outside the box and resort to makeshift solutions,’ the company says. The airline says all of Ural Airlines’ planes are already packed with breathing masks as well; these are available upon request as well as given out to every passenger showing any

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 5, 2020. OOO FORES spent twice as much money on environmental projects at its four branches in 2019 as it did in 2018 (the increase went from RUB 89.9m in 2018 up to 166.7m in 2019), the company’s press service reports. According to the company representatives, the filtering facilities upgrades helped keep the plant’s dust emissions at existing levels (which is about 66% below the maximum permissible discharge). ‘We enlarge the share of our environmental investments on a regular basis. In 2018, for example, the increase against 2017 came to 25%. Last year’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 5, 2020. EVRAZ West-Siberian Metal Plant (EVRAZ ZSMK) managed to save some RUB 400m thanks to a set of energy efficiency-boosting measures last year. According to EVRAZ Holding Siberia’s Corporate Communications Center, the programs adopted at West-Siberian Power Plant and the plant no longer doing the power transit through other companies’ grids played the key role in the process. ‘Ferrous metallurgy is an energy-intensive industry; energy resources amount to 6% to 7% of total production costs (over 20% if you account for process fuel), so we keep working on

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 5, 2020. The Board of Directors at Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant (ChelPipe Group) adopted a new dividend policy, the Group’s press service reports. The Group intends to pay the dividends at least twice a year in order to increase the company’s shareholder value and ensure more profit for the shareholders. The amounts will vary depending on the company’s current debt burden so as to let the business remain financially stable and to account for the Group’s CapEx needs (namely, strategic investment projects). The Group will direct at least 100% of its net profit

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 4, 2020. OOO FORES’s Asbest branch introduced a new job safety induction format in December 2019, the company’s press service reports. The company employees now get to watch a specially designed video manual. ‘We came to appreciate the advantages of this new format in the last thirty days. Video instructions save time and produce better results,’ says Job Safety & Industrial Safety Director at OOO FORES’s Asbest branch Elena Bogubayeva. ‘The induction videos are meant for the newcomers just entering the workplace. The thirty-minute video introduces the new

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 4, 2020. Ural Airlines canceled all of their China flights till the end of March at least, the air carrier’s press service reports. The following flights got cancelled in accordance with the Russian Government’s Executive Order 140 (dated January 30, 2020): U6-703/704 Yekaterinburg-Beijing-Yekaterinburg (February 7-March 28) U6-803/804 Vladivostok-Beijing-Vladivostok (February 8-March 28) U6-7709 and U6-756 Yekaterinburg-Harbin-Yekaterinburg (March 13-March 28) U6-859/860 Yekaterinburg-Kazan-Harbin and Harbin-Kazan-Yekaterinburg (February 9-March 29) U6-781/782