UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 29, 2015. A 2015 performance report for Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant was presented in the course of a solemn ceremony at I.V. Okunev Palace of Culture in Nizhniy Tagil last week. According to the company press service, Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Igor Kholmanskikh, Sverdlovsk Region’s Vice Premier Alexei Orlov, Mayor of Nizhniy Tagil Sergei Nosov, and Nizhniy Tagil Duma deputies offered the plant workers their New Year greetings. In his welcoming address, Kholmanskikh wished the employee

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 28, 2015. ChTPZ Group is holding New Year parties for the workers of its Pervouralsk- and Chelyabinsk-based plants. More than 1,000 employees from Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant and Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant – the best workers – have been invited to see the 2015 Premiere Show. The company press service says the party in Pervouralsk took place at the local Palace of Culture last week. The Group’s shareholder Andrei Komarov, Director-General Alexander Grubman, and Mayor of Pervouralsk Alexei Dronov all wished the plant workers happy holidays. ‘ChTPZ Group met all

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 28, 2015. Ten metallurgical workers from Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant/PNTZ (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) received honorary certificates from Sverdlovsk Region Industry & Science Ministry. The awarding ceremony took place at the government house on December 22. The ministry’s honorary certificates are issued for noticeable contribution to the development of science and industry such as completing very important tasks, getting new industrial facilities launched, and so on. The awards were given to the plant’s key experts in pipe production: rolled stock

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 28, 2015. Director-General of Burevestnik Central Scientific Research Institute (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) Georgi Zakamennykh was awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky by President’s special decree. The order was given for his ‘work achievements, many years of conscientious service, and proactive social efforts.’ According to the company press service, Zakamennykh was appointed Senior Designer for Artillery Weapons by a military-industrial committee in 2009. He was personally responsible for the development and serial production of the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 28, 2015. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant was declared Nizhniy Tagil’s No.1 charity-giver in the year 2015. This is the fourth year in a row the plant wins this title among the city’s industrial enterprises with over 1,000 employees; the title is an acknowledgement of the plant’s great contribution to Nizhniy Tagil’s development, the company press service says. The plant directed over 500m RUR to help various local residents this year. Despite the challenging economic situation, this year’s donations were greater than one year earlier; Ural Vagon Zavod

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 28, 2015. This year’s final meeting of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s heads (the company’s top managers and directors of member enterprises, design offices, and research institutes) took place in Moscow, the company press service reports. First Deputy DG Yuri Bodyayev stressed that the corporation’s reserves made it possible to cope with all the macroeconomic factors such as the stagnating rolling stock market, the devaluation of the ruble, the sanctions imposed on the company, and limited financial market supply. ‘We managed to reach one top-priority goal:

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 25, 2015. Yekaterinburg labor market ended up with more supply and less demand by the end of the year compared with early January. According to Superjob analysts, the number of job ads will go down by 13% by late December compared with January 2015 (in Russia on the whole, the drop is 4%), whereas that of submitted CVs will rise by 40% (in Russia on the whole, the increase is expected at 21%). This year’s seasonal fluctuations were the same as last year: a more or less unchanging number of job openings throughout the first quarter of the year, a stable increase

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 25, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region’s inflation rate rose to 16% by the end of 2015, which was 8.11% worse than one year earlier, head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service’s local division Dmitri Shalabodov announced at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. The official explained frozen fish prices went up the most drastically, by 37.7%. the price of apples rose by 22.76%, that of milk by 11.81%, that of beef by 10.6%, that of pork by 7.7%, that of rice by 5.77%, and that of chicken by 3.71%. At the same time, some food items actually grew less expensive, Shalabodov said.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 25, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region’s public prosecution authorities detected over 130 legal offenses in the local defense industry, their press service reports. Mainly, these offenses are: failure to comply with the schedule for completing the state’s defense procurement requirements or with the budget legislation, purchasing regulations, or import substitution regulations. Over forty reports, three protests, and nineteen warnings were issued in reaction to the offenses. As a result, thirty-two people had to face disciplinary liability and nine people had to face

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 25, 2015. ChTPZ Group is going to deliver 2,000,000 kg of pipes to Belenergomash-BZEM before the end of December. According to the company press service, the pipes will be used for making metal structures at a stadium in Saransk which is expected to host the games of the World Football Championship of 2018. 70% of these pipes are electrically welded ones with the diameter of 530mm and wall width of 14-22mm and 30% are weldless pipes with the diameter of 273mm and wall width of 8-12mm. All of these pipes are made of extra strong grades of steel and have improved

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 25, 2015. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation got its innovative hopper 19-6870 (meant for transportation of grains) certified for compliance with all the regulations. According to the company press service, the hopper/railcar is also suitable for transportation of other loose edible types of cargo that can be loaded and unloaded in-between the rails. The new hopper’s technical and operational characteristics surpass those of all the existing counterparts. Its capacity is estimated at 76,200 kg, with body volume at 120 m3. Grain hoppers are believed to be some of the

UrBC, Moscow, December 24, 2015. Over 50% of Russians felt their financial situation deteriorated this year, Finmarket refers to the Public Opinion Fund’s research findings as indicating. About 34% of respondents expect things to get worse in the upcoming year. They feel this could be due to probable price increases and inflation (19%) or insufficient salaries, wages, and pensions with no inflation rate adjustments (18%). Another 31% of those surveyed said they expected their income to remain the same as this year, and every one in five hopes things will get better. 13% of respondents said

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 24,2015. Food prices inflation rate was estimated at 15.2% in Sverdlovsk Region this year, Sverdlovskstat reports. Overall, the prices of consumer goods and services went up by 13.5%, with non-food items growing 14.5% more expensive and services growing 11.5% more expensive. The price of vegetable oil, tea, rice, frozen fish, apples, and vermicelli rose by 20%; that of sugar, salt, mutton, flour, and beef by 15%, that of milk by 10.2%, and that of vegetables went down by 0.6%.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 24, 2015. ChTPZ Group’s employees are going to take part in the international stand-up comedy contest KiViN 2016 in Sochi on January 11-25, the company press service reports. The company is sending the teams which proved the best in the corporate competitions this year: Yin Yang from Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant and Molodezhka from Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (both companies are the Group’s member enterprises). ‘This is the first time our stand-up comedy teams are entering an international arena. Taking part in an international event is a great opportunity for

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 24, 2015. Electromachine (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) coordinated an improvement proposals contest for this year among its workers. According to the company press service, the employees’ improvement proposals are all part of the lean production system and the idea is to involve each and every worker in the production improvement process. The company’s lean production committee considers applications on a monthly basis; 161 proposals were submitted this year, of which 99 were related to improvements in working conditions, 19 were related

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 24, 2015. A new metal treatment lab was recently opened at Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Personnel Training Center. The lab is part of Ural Federal University’s Nizhniy Tagil-based Department of Machine-Building, the company press service reports. The symbolic red-ribbon-cutting ceremony was performed by the Center’s Director Sergei Vassilyev and Director of Ural Federal University Nizhniy Tagil Institute Vladimir Pegashkin. All the new equipment was purchased for the lab as part of the educational infrastructure development project. ‘A special department with

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, December 24, 2015. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) and Pipe Metallurgical Company/TMK signed an agreement on how the price the latter will have to pay for the former’s hot-rolled steel sheets will be determined. The paper was signed by MMK Director-General Pavel Shilyaev and TMK Director-General Alexander Shiryaev, the two companies’ joint press release states. The price formula is based on direct cost pricing, with such primary variables as the cost of metallurgical raw stuffs and materials and the cost of manufacturing a steel sheet. The formula also provides

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, December 24, 2015. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) shipped its 2,000,000th ton of metal goods to Uraltrubprom in December 2015. ‘The company will have delivered 255,000,000 kg of rolled metal goods to Uraltrubprom by the end of the year; these goods comprise most of MMK’s product range, including section pieces, hot- and cold-rolled items, and products with polymeric coating,’ the company press service says. Most of the products supplied are hot-rolled rolls used for making round, rectangular, and square steel, electrically welded pipes. The

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, December 24, 2015. The international rating agency Moody’s promoted Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) from Ba3 to Ba2 and upped its PDR from Ba3-PD to Ba2-PD, with Positive rating outlook. This upgrade was first and foremost due to a considerable improvement in the company’s financial performance over the last two years and a decrease of the overall debt burden (debt/EBITDA ratio) down to 1.8x in late 2014 and down to 1.2x by the end of September 2015, which is the point at which Moody’s upgrades ratings of companies in the below 2.5x range. Despite the expected

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 23, 2015. The price of a square meter of an existing home has been dropping by 0.2% a week on Yekaterinburg housing market and came to 70,756 RUR this week (down 7.2% on the start of the year), Ural Real Estate Chamber reports. ‘This gradual downward trend has been there since February. Despite the dropping demand, home owners are unwilling to reduce their prices and so these have been declining only slowly. The market supply, on the other hand, is still at its all-time high: there are currently 11,400 apartments and 2,000 rooms in communal apartments in the