UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 19, 2017. EVRAZ came with a performance report on the results achieved at Innoprom 2017 International Industrial Exhibition on July 10-13 in Yekaterinburg, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Center reports. ‘EVRAZ, which turns 25 this year, signed four agreements with companies based in Japan, Belarus, and Russia. Russia’s Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov paid a visit to the company stand. EVRAZ Vice President and head of EVRAZ Holding Ural Maxim Andriasov presented the company produce, including our new high-speed railway wheels, to the minister,’

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 19, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) and ATOL are now offering their cashless payment services in all the parts of the country where the bank runs its outlets. Businesses all over the country can also benefit from the special welcome bonuses the bank offers to companies switching to its acquiring services, the bank’s press service reports. The UBRD will only charge its partner companies 1.6% of the card transaction amount, which is much less than the market’s average. Setting up a POS terminal takes under three days, and the bank’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 19, 2017. MegaFon subscribers spent more than 5,500 hours on their phones during the four days of the Innoprom 2017 International Industrial Exhibition, which was twice as long as one year earlier, MegaFon’s press service reports. According to the telecommunications provider’s analysts, the second day of the exhibition proved the most popular one: visitors to Yekaterinburg EXPO site spent more time calling others and surfing the Internet from their smartphones on July 11 than on any other day, with call duration up by 38% and Internet traffic up by 91% compared with

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 19, 2017. Sverdlovsk Region Public Property Management Ministry and Sverdlovsk Region Property Fund had over 440 unauthorized billboards, 651 light-box advertisements, and 136 street banners removed in the first half of the year, the ministry’s press service reports. ‘In addition to steps taken to handle the offenses (that is, dismantling of unauthorized advertising fixtures), the ministry also sent some 750 reports and orders to stop violating the existing advertising legislation to billboard and light-box owners and to owners of the buildings where the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 18, 2017. ChTPZ Group took part in the Innoprom 2017 International Industrial Exhibition in Yekaterinburg on July 10-13, the Group’s press service reports. The company shareholders Andrei Komarov and Alexander Fedorov, as well as the Director-General of the Group’s pipe manufacturing division Alexander Grubman, HR Director Svetlana Kusminykh, and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant’s Managing Director Alexei Dronov all represented the Group during the forum. ‘The company’s top management contributed to the event’s business agenda. Director-General of the Group’s pipe

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 18, 2017. Fitch Ratings upgraded Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works’ (MMK) long-term issuer default rating from BBB- to BB+, with Stable rating outlook, MMK press service reports. ‘The agency says in its press release that this upgrade has to do with the company’s considerably decreased leverage and Fitch’s expectations for MMK’s financial policy to remain as conservative as before. The prospective leverage is expected to stay within the new rating range in the foreseeable future. The decline was brought about by MMK’s impressive financial performance and money that

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 18, 2017. EVRAZ Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) launched a new round bar finishing facility at the plant’s heavy milling department, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Center reports. The new facility is expected to double the site’s production capacity, improve the metal finishing quality, and increase product range. All this is meant to help the plant get a larger share of the promising pipe shell market. The solemn launching ceremony was attended by EVRAZ Vice President and head of EVRAZ Holding Ural Maxim Andriasov, EVRAZ NTMK and EVRAZ

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, July 18, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) got the gas-filtering facilities at its electric steel-smelting department rebuilt and upgraded, MMK PR Department reports. The project cost 1.6bn RUR to implement, with the current filtering efficiency at nearly 100%. Two obsolete gas-filtering Units 32 and 33 had to be replaced with their up-to-date counterparts. The new equipment is meant to trap, cool, and filter smoke gases resulting from DSPA 32 steel-smelting machine’s performance and random exhausts that don’t get trapped in the gas duct. ‘DSPA 32 filtering

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 18, 2017. Sverdlovsk Region-based building businesses’ turnover amounted to 42.88bn RUR in January-June 2017, which was 20.9% less than one year perviously, Sverdlovskstat reports. The turnover of companies involved in production of ready metal goods declined by 10.2% in the first half of the year; that of companies in the beverage industry declined by 10.6%, that of companies in the printed goods sector declined by 7.3%, that of pharmaceutical companies declined by 5.8%, that of companies producing steam and hot water declined by 1.9%, and that of companies in the

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, July 17, 2017. Chelyabinsk Region’s Ministry for Economic Development and MMK Group’s MMK METIZ signed a contract to upgrade the latter’s metal goods production and to produce 39bn RUR worth of goods by 2025, MMK’s press service reports. The two parties’ special investment contract sets out the investor’s responsibility to master the production of metal goods within the given period and Chelyabinsk Region’s responsibility to provide both tax reliefs and subsidies. The investor, MMK METIZ, is to allocate at least 2.9bn RUR for the project, produce and sell 39bn RUR worth of

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, July 17, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) launched its Continuous Hot-Dip Galvanizing Unit 3, the company’s PR Center reports. This means MMK will now be able to produce 20% more zinc-coated products, that is, over 2,000,000,000 kg a year. The unit is meant for making zinc-coated goods through hot-dip galvanizing of cold-rolled sheets made from low-carbon steel. These are very high-margin goods that proved to be reliable and to have a longer lifespan. The building industry, as well as packaging manufacturers, are the key customers for this produce.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 17, 2017. ChTPZ Group’s top managers took part in the Innoprom 2017 International Industrial Exhibition’s business program in Yekaterinburg on July 10-13, 2017, the company press service reports. Their reports were presented within the framework of the exhibition’s special project on Educational Solutions for the Industrial Sector. Managing Director of the Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant Alexei Dronov shared his experience in the field of training highly skilled blue-collar workers who can feel confident at a modern production site; he talked about the company’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 17, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) keeps improving its remote banking services, the bank’s press service reports. For one, the daily limit on the online transactions amount was increased from 50,000 RUR to 150,000 RUR in July. The decision was taken after some customer feedback analysis; according to the UBRD, making online payments (over 6,000 transactions daily), card-to-card money transfers (more than 2,000 transactions daily), and payments to private accounts (around 700 transactions daily) are currently the top three online

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 17, 2017. The average per-square-meter price went down by 1.9% on Yekaterinburg existing home market in the second quarter of the year compared with one year previously, domofond.ru reports. The average asking price declined from 70,300 RUR per m2 down to 68,900 RUR per m2. Still, Yekaterinburg-based homes are still a bit more expensive than the country’s average. The average asking price on the national existing home market also decreased by 0.9%, down to 59,500 RUR per m2, with prices fluctuating within 1.5% range in forty-nine federal constituencies.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 14, 2017. Russian President Vladimir Putin considered a number of healthcare and road construction proposals submitted by acting Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev, the Governor’s Information Policy Department reports. ‘Acting Governor was able to talk about a few socially important project proposals during the President’s recent business trip to Sverdlovsk Region. For one, Kuivashev told President Putin about the plans to set up an emergency unit on the premises of Municipal Clinic 40 in Yekaterinburg. A 5,300 m2 surgery block needs to be completed.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 14, 2017. ChTPZ Group signed a cooperation agreement with WorldSkills Russia, the company press service reports. The paper was signed by the Director of the Group’s pipe-manufacturing division Alexander Grubman and Head of WorldSkills Russia Robert Urazov. The two parties intend to join their efforts in designing and promoting FutureSkills. The Group’s goal is to coordinate foresight sessions during corporate WorldSkills championships in order to decide on the popular jobs of the future; the company will also set up teams of contestants and experts in specific

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 14, 2017. Russian Copper Company intends to start extracting porphyry copper ore from Tominsky Deposit next year, the company’s Director for the Environment, Job Safety & Industrial Safety Natalia Gonchar told reporters at the Innoprom 2017 International Industrial Exhibition. ‘We already have a mining jobs plan that was approved of by the authorities, and we must go along with this plan in full compliance with our license requirements. This is why we need to start with the open-cast mining operations. The plan is to get the first batches of ore in 2018. One

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 14, 2017. ChTPZ Group supplied its first 1,980,000 kg of large-diameter pipes with concrete coating to the construction site of Nord Stream 2 Pipeline, the Group’s press service reports. The shipment comprises pipes (diameter: 1,153 mm; layer thickness: 30.9 mm) made at Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant’s Vysota 239 Department. The outer concrete coating was provided by Pipeline Coating & Technologies (Concpipe). ‘The shipping-off ceremony took place in Volzhsky and was attended by representatives of the project shareholder Gazprom, Nord Stream 2 Director Henning

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 14, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) took part in an environmental conference in Yekaterinburg during the Innoprom Exhibition, the bank’s press service reports. The UBRD’s Trade & Project Financing Director Sergey Okhrimenko made a report on the use of efficient financing mechanisms to support international environmental programs. The conference participants focused on ways to reduce their investment risks and on how much the economy needed green technologies. The national business community’s corporate social responsibility has

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 13, 2017. Sverdlovsk Region-based hotels are expected to receive some 200m RUR in extra revenues resulting from Innoprom Exhibition in Yekaterinburg, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. All in all, visitors to Innoprom are estimated to bring around 1bn RUR in short- and long-term revenues for the area. According to Sverdlovsk Region Tourism Development Center, Yekaterinburg hotels are all 100% full at the moment, as the exhibition is in progress. Innoprom 2017 is taking place at Yekaterinburg EXPO on July 10-13. This year, Japan is