UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 5, 2015. A group of delegates from Russia’s Industry & Trade Ministry and Sverdlovsk Region’s Industry & Trade Ministry came to Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant in Nizhniy Tagil. According to the corporation’s press service, the head of the national ministry’s Ural division Alexander Tarasov and his deputy Viktor Kilin met Ural Vagon Zavod’s Executive Director Vladimir Roshchupkin. The officials talked about the industry’s current economic problems and the performance of Russia’s largest machine-building companies. Ural Vagon Zavod is the first

UrBC, Moscow, November 3, 2015. Alcohol imports to Russia might grow somewhat irregular starting from January 1, 2016, as wholesale suppliers won’t be able to register with the Unified State Automated Information System or the strong drinks turnover database in time, Alexei Nebolsin from Russia’s Pillars said to Izvestiya. ‘Wholesalers are expected to register by the end of the year and retail chains by July 1. The system will apply to manufacturers and wholesalers right after New Year, even though we are informed just under 5% of Russia’s strong drinks wholesalers are actually prepared for

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 3, 2015. As of October 1, 2015, 1,094 businesses and sole traders were undergoing bankruptcy proceedings in Sverdlovsk Region; this is 128 companies, or 13%, more than a year earlier. Russia’s Federal Tax Service’s local division reports the number of insolvency claims soared in the third quarter of the year: 74 new bankruptcy proceedings were instituted in three months. ‘The last time we’ve seen such a dramatic increase was five years ago, in the third quarter of 2010, when bankruptcies came along in the aftermath of the recession of 2008. At the same time, this

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 3, 2015. ChTPZ Group signed a four-party agreement with Ural Federal University, Pervouralsk Metallurgical School, and Sverdlovsk Region Government to renew and expand its public-private partnership in the field of blue-collar cadre training. The Future of White Metallurgy Training Program is targeted at providing the country’s metallurgical sector with skilled workers. The original agreement, signed five years ago, resulted in the entire infrastructure for the project such as a modern, 7,500-m2 training center with simulators supplied by Festo and Prosoft, a

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 3, 2015. Ural Vagon Zavod Scientific & Production Corporation is taking part in the 2nd WorldSkills Russia Championship, a blue-collar jobs contest that is now being held in Yekaterinburg. ‘Five employees from four of the corporation’s member enterprises are already busy completing the tasks. Besides, Ural Vagon Zavod hosted a round table discussion during the championship, to look into the prospects of how the machine-building giant and the country’s educational establishments could work together,’ the company press service says. All in all, 220 young

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 3, 2015. Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant/ChTPZ and Rosnano are going to design a new educational program and qualification standards for metallurgical students who’d like to master the newest methods of treating metals with the help of nano-structured materials, ChTPZ Group’s press service reports. The agreement to this effect was signed by ChTPZ Group’s Director-General Alexander Grubman and Rosnano’s Director-General Andrei Svinarenko during the 2nd WorldSkills Russia 2015 championship. ‘This unique educational program aims to equip our employees with the

UrBC, Moscow, November 2, 2015. The Russian Central Bank’s Board of Directors voted to keep the key interest rate at 11% a year on October 30, 2015, the bank’s website states. ‘The Bank of Russia’s BOD decided on October 30, 2015 to keep the key interest rate at 11%, as considerable inflation risks still hold and there have been no significant changes in the inflation risks/economic slowdown risks ratio. Given this decision, moderately rigid monetary factors and weakened domestic demand will keep on contributing to bringing the inflation rate down,’ the website states. The BOD’s next meeting

UrBC, Moscow, November 2, 2015. The net loss of AutoVAZ (calculated in accordance with the IAS) came to 15.8bn RUR in the nine months of 2015, Finmarket refers to the company report as stating. The car maker’s revenues dropped by 2.9%, down to 131.2bn RUR, while the cost of sales rose by 2.9%, up to 133.1bn RUR. Gross loss was registered at 1.8bn RUR (against 5.8bn RUR in gross profit a year earlier). The company’s management costs went up by 7%, up to 8.6bn RUR, while its selling expenses increased by 19.5%, up to 3.2bn RUR, and its R&D expenses by 39%, up by 1.2bn RUR. Pre-tax loss

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 2, 2015. Yekaterinburg water supply and maintenance authorities completed the gradual closing down of the city’s outdoor fountains for the winter, to protect them from the cold, the city council reports. All of the fountains have been prepared for winter by now, with all the water removed carefully from the pipes and the bowls sweeped and scrubbed. Some of the engineering infrastructure has also been removed. ‘The city council had one of the most famous fountains, the Stone Flower, renovated this year: all the electronic equipment, cables, pipes, and the pump

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 2, 2015. 6,025 people have been sent on forced leaves by their Sverdlovsk Region-based employers by late October; this is 195 people more than a week earlier, Sverdlovsk Region Legislative Assembly Deputy Andrei Alshevskikh states on his Facebook page, with data quoted from the local Labor & Employment Department. The number of companies planning redundancies or resorting to part-time employment has gone up from 201 to 207, so the number of workers at risk has gone up from 108,503 to 119,960 people, while the number of those likely to be laid off has gone up

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 2, 2015. Omsktransmash (an Omsk-based member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) was given an honorary certificate for taking part in the Military Siberia Project. According to the corporation’s press service, the exhibition/guided tour project aims at patriotic education of the youth and enlightening students about the city’s wartime history. The project was designed in the year of the V-Day 70th anniversary and the year Omsk turned 300. The Military Siberia Project was assessed very favorably by experts and given the prestigious nation-wide Russian

UrBC, Moscow, October 30, 2015. The prices mobile breakdown services charge drivers have gone up by 10% to 20% in the last year, Avtostat refers to Russian Auto Moto Club as saying. The said mobile breakdown services include vehicle recovery and basic ‘first-aid’ options such as a jump start, some gasoline, and wheel changing. In Russia on the whole, Moscow drivers get charged the most; breakdown vans in Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk have the second highest prices, those operating in Saint Petersburg and Yekaterinburg are in the third place, and those operating in Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Ufa,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 30, 2015. Sales of new cars on Yekaterinburg market declined by 43% in the nine months of 2015, Auto-Dealer-Yekaterinburg reports. 32,268 new automobiles have been sold since the start of the year, including 3,712 cars sold in September (down 41% on a year earlier). KIA and UAZ/Lada (both currently among the ten best-selling brands) improved their sales in September, with the Korean brand even becoming last month’s No.1. Still, Lada remains the market leader throughout January to September overall. ‘Despite a dramatic drop in sales, Lada is highly likely to remain

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 30, 2015. Prices went down by an average of 5.8% on Yekaterinburg existing homes market in the ten months of 2015, Ural Real Estate Chamber reports. The average asking price of a square meter of housing came to 71,828 RUR on October 28, 2015. The demand went up a little following the summertime seasonal decline, but it still remains low. However, sellers are still actively putting new offers on the market, so the overall existing homes market supply has gone up by nearly 48% since February. There are currently 11,550 apartments and over 1,900 rooms in communal

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 30, 2015. The Russian Federation Government and Sverdlovsk Region Government adopted an action plan for easing the tension on the area’s labor market; one of the steps is introducing a blue-collar training program at Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant. Around six hundred workers are expected to undergo the training. According to the corporation’s press service, the program will be multi-fold. ‘Firstly, the idea is to train new blue-collar cadre, namely, sling operators and digital data processors. Secondly, we plan to offer professional development training

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 30, 2015. ChTPZ Group’s employees and alumni of the Future of White Metallurgy, the company’s corporate training program, are going to take part in the 2nd WorldSkills Russia Championship, a blue-collar jobs competition, the company press service reports. The Group’s contestants have won various rounds of WorldSkills Russia before. For one, Alexander Ilyinykh and Roman Barkhatov won silver medals in WorldSkills Russia and the 1st WorldSkills Hi Tech Russia in Mobile Robotics, while Anton Shalakhov, who got the bronze in WorldSkills Russia in Kazan last year, will

UrBC, Chelyabinsk. October 29, 2015. MMK Group and ChTPZ Group held their 17th coordination committee meeting together to discuss their strategic cooperation. MMK PR & Advertising Center reports experts from the two companies' production, technological, sales, and logistics departments produced their performance reports for the eight months of 2015 and spoke about their future interaction in terms of supply, product quality, orders for the fourth quarter of the year, and working together for oil and gas companies projects such as Nord Stream 2. 'Our two companies both have

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 29, 2015. Uraltransmash (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod) coordinated a trade union conference. Chairman Yuri Vakulski presented a performance report for 2011-2015, the company press service reports. 'The conference was held before the take-off of the Collective Agreement Campaign, which is scheduled for November 2015. The plant's trade union contributes to the campaign in that it helps draft the agreement and controls its implementation. As Vakulski pointed out in his report, not a single social benefit was cut at the plant in the last five

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 29, 2015. The number of people out of jobs who did not register with any employment agencies came to 137,700 between January and September 2015, head of Rosstat's Sverdlovsk Region division Elena Kutina said at a press conference today. 'There are 2,352,900 people of working age in the area at the moment, of whom 2,215,200 are employed and 137,700 people are out of jobs but looking for new ones,' Kutina said. According to Kutina, 36,600 locals got officially registered with the employment services. 30,000 are classed as unemployed and 24,200 are

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 29, 2015. Eli Yamin Blues Band brought its show to Seversky Pipe Plant (a member enterprise of Pipe Metallurgical Company/TMK), TMK press service reports. The band comprises four virtuoso musicians, who took the audience's breath away in America, China, Mali, Japan, and Europe's best concert halls. The CC Machine Tune Show was dedicated to the one year since the launch of the company's FQM mill, commissioned by Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev in October 2014. Over 1,300 plant workers came to dance to the blues; the show finished off with the