UrBC, Magnitogorsk, August 11, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) recently launched new Blast Heater 23 bis at its Blast Furnace Unit 7. This is part of a larger blast furnace upgrade program, with investments already exceeding 1bn RUR, MMK Information & PR Department reports. ‘The launch of the new Cowper, a regenerating blast air heater named after the English engineer Edward Alfred Cowper, will allow for consecutive replacement of the three remaining heaters at Blast Furnace Unit 7,’ the Department says. The inner-chamber blast heaters will get replaced with their

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 11, 2017. Special offer for young home buyers in Akademicheskiy will hold for five more days, RSG-Akademicheskoye’s press service reports. Customers in the 18-35 age group can get a 100,000-ruble or a 200,000-ruble discount on their new home in Akademicheskiy till August 14, 2017. ‘Akademicheskiy is a popular location with young customers: 80% of local residents are young families aged 21 to 40, with pre-school and school-age children. This is hardly surprising, as the area has a lot to offer this age group: affordable ready-to-move-in housing and special terms on

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 11, 2017. The number of micro-financing organizations (MFOs) operating in Ural Federal District shrank by 22% against 2014, Sequoia Credit Consolidation’s press service reports. There are currently 181 such organizations on the Central Bank’s register. The decrease in the number of MFOs was most noticeable in Tyumen Region, including Khanty-Mansiysky and Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Regions (-50%, with 23 active organizations at the moment), followed by Chelyabinsk Region (-20%, 68 active MFOs), Sverdlovsk Region (-15.9%, 74 active MFOs), and Kurgan Region (-11%, 16

UrBC, Moscow, August 11, 2017. Russia’s net capital outflow amounted to $13.1bn in January-July 2017, which exceeded the figures for one year previously by $4.3bn, or 1.5 times, Central Bank states. The money mostly left the country through the banking sector. According to the regulatory authority, banks have to both keep handing their international debt burden (comparable with that for last year) and place their funds abroad. At the same time, in contrast to last year, other economic players proved net capital importers and switched from international asset expansion to attracting foreign

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 10, 2017. EVRAZ Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) is getting ready for the upcoming heating season of 2017/2018, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Center reports. ‘The plant’s power station and other heating facilities underwent large-scale repairs throughout this summer. For one, an overhaul was given to Boiler 3, whereas Steam Generator 3 underwent a major reconstruction. This both ensured a more reliable power supply and increased our furnace gas recycle rate by 50%. Switching to furnace gas means we can save considerably on the costly

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, August 10, 2017. The Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) sent a thank-you letter to Vice President of the South Urals Chamber of Commerce & Industry Igor Aristov to express its gratitude for the CCI’s contribution to improvements in the national business climate, the Chamber’s press service reports. The South Urals CCI has helped to estimate the current parameters of mechanisms aimed to make business procedures easier and to enhance the national constituencies’ investment appeal. The letter states that the Chamber’s experts’ reports and comments serve as supporting

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 10, 2017. Rosset’s Federal Grid Company Untied Energy Systems connected Salym Petroleum Development N.V.’s oil-extracting facilities to the national power network, the company’s West Siberian division’s press service reports. This means the company’s disposable power supply rose from 36 to 96 megawatts. FGC UES power engineers extended the 220-kilowatt Snezhnaya Substation’s outdoor switchgear to two 110-kilowatt sections, which means the end user can now enjoy the extra 60 megawatts worth of power. ‘Snezhnaya Substation was put up in 1973. The facility ensures

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 10, 2017. Seats for the new version of Ural Locomotives’ Lastochka, the electric train, were presented at Moscow’s Rizhsky Station this week. The new train is meant for Russian Railways’ Federal Passenger Company’s inter-constituency routes, Sinara Group’s press service reports. Both top mangers and middle-level employees of Federal Passenger Company as well as representatives of Russian Railways’ Technical Policy Department, Passenger Transit Administration, and High-Speed Transit Directorate and Ural Locomotives’ design engineers contributed to the discussion on

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 10, 2017. 28 alumni of ChTPZ Group’s Future of White Metallurgy Corporate Training Program took their military oaths recently, the company press service reports. The solemn ceremony took place in the regiment based in Gorny Shchit, Sverdlovsk Region. ‘ChTPZ Group has been cooperating with this military regiment for five years now. Some two hundred Pervouralsk Metallurgical School’s alumni served their army terms there and came back to work at the plant’s various departments. Once this year’s corporate training program alumni have served their terms, they are

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 9, 2017. TMK CHERMET invested over 50m RUR in production upgrades in the first half of the year, the company press service reports. These investments were part of the company’s development strategy aimed at recycling more scrap ferrous metal from TMK Group’s own member enterprises so that it can be used at Pipe Metallurgical Company’s plants. Most of the investment amount was directed to purchasing new vehicles for the company’s production sites and new automobiles, to introducing equipment upgrades, and to improving working conditions at the scrap-processing

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, August 9, 2017. Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant (ChTPZ), Russia’s leading pipe manufacturer and integrated oilfield solutions supplier, was given ruA+ credit rating by RAEX (Expert RA), with Stable rating outlook, the company press service reports. The rating reflects the great degree of trust the investor community has in the plant. According to the rating agency, the company’s strong market position, its comfortable debt burden, and enhanced liquidity all had a positive impact on the current rating. RAEX analysts also commented on the great corporate governance, strong

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, August 9, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) held a special firefighting contest to distinguish the company’s best volunteer firefighting team, MMK Information & PR Administration reports. The annual contest was held in accordance with the company’s action plan for civil defense, emergency management, and fire safety for 2017. The goal is to check how well the volunteer teams are prepared for fire threats and to make sure they prove a useful part of the firefighting activities. ‘Fifty-seven teams from MMK Group’s various divisions competed in the contest.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 9, 2017. Ural Federal District’s residents’ everyday expenses increased by 2.5% in July 2017, Romir Holding’s press service reports. In Russia on the whole, people’s spending rose by 0.6% against June 2017 and by 8.1% against last July, which is twice as much as the official inflation rate of 3.9%. This increased spending, combined with the dropping average store receipt amount, indicates that Russians keep on looking for best price offers and have to both spend more and go shopping more often. Expenses were up last month for people based in almost every part of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 9, 2017. An ad hoc committee to coordinate the actions of Sverdlovsk Region’s and local cities’ authorities and those of other related organizations was recently set up by Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev’s decree. The goal is to protect the rights of local housing fraud victims. The entire process is to be supervised by First Deputy Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Vladimir Tungusov. There are currently over ten housing construction projects in Sverdlovsk Region that are facing financial trouble. These are: Scherbakova, Berezki, Koltsovsky Dvorik,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 8, 2017. Ural Federal District’s workout championship was recently held on Russian Copper Company’s workout park site, the company press service reports. The sports event gathered together some fifty athletes from Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, and Tyumen Regions and from Bashkortostan. Both professional sportsmen and women and amateur contestants competed in both grownups’ and children’s categories. The championship included Power Freestyle and Power Triathlon challenges. World workout champion of 2013 Ruslan Minachev from Chelyabinsk won the first prize in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 8, 2017. Workers from EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) Beam Rolling Department keep working as volunteers, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Center reports. The workers donated money to buy the necessary school supplies for the coming school year for children from Yuzhakovsky Children’s Social Rehabilitation Center. ‘Donations were made by the entire department team. Our employees handed over to children some clothes, shoes, and school supplies. Department Head Dmitri Kavun, Chair of Department Committee Alexei Stavrov, and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 8, 2017. EVRAZ Holding’s Raspadskaya Coal Company celebrates Russia’s Year of the Environment by launching some up-to-date water-filtering facilities at its Raspadskaya-Koksovaya Mine, EVRAZ Holding’s press service reports. ‘Environmental safety is our utmost priority,’ says Raspadskaya Coal Company’s Director-General Sergey Stepanov. ‘It is our responsibility to invest in environmental protection and to reduce the impact our coal-mining activity results in. This is why we put up advanced filtering facilities, recycle waste separately, and reclaim the affected land

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 8, 2017. Metallurg Charity Fund (supported primarily by Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Work (MMK)) directed over 197m RUR to its Care Program, MMK Information & PR Department reports. The program involves more than 30,000 retirees, people with disabilities, and low-income groups who used to work at industrial enterprises as well as Magnitogorsk’s and the nearby settlements’ civil service sector. ‘This Care Program aims to improve the living standards of the elderly and consists of several steps. First, over 14,000 retirees from among MMK’s and other enterprises’

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, August 8, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works’ (MMK) net profit amounted to $538m in the first half of the year, which exceeded the figures for one year earlier by 10.7%, the company website states. The plant’s EBITDA (adjusted against the sale of FMG shares in 2016) rose by 29.2%, up to $907m, while its revenues rose by 37.8%, up to $3.586bn. MMK is currently one of the world’s largest steel manufacturers and Russia’s ferrous metallurgical market leader. The company’s assets comprise a major full-production-cycle metallurgical facility, In 2016, the plant’s steel

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 7, 2017. Over 130m RUR will be directed from the obligatory medical insurance fund to finance Sverdlovsk Region’s clinics. The decision was made at the obligatory medical insurance committee’s recent meeting, Sverdlovsk Region Information Policy Department reports. ‘This increase in funding was made possible due to extra money allocated from Sverdlovsk Region’s budget in June. Nearly 50% of the subsidized amount (954m RUR) will be transferred to our outpatient medical units before the end of the year. We believe this will both make primary medical care more