UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 1, 2015. Thirty new low-floor buses are now cruising the streets of Yekaterinburg, the city council reports. ‘These are smoothly running, comfortable buses that are warm, safe, and functional on the inside. We are very favorably impressed,’ one of the bus drivers said. Thanks to preliminary trial runs, bus technicians were able to practice all the O&M, commissioning, and launching routines and are now busy with all the final setup of navigation and information equipment and elimination of minor drawbacks detected in the course of the first runs, the city bus

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 1, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation and ATOM, a design office, won the prestigious international RedDot Award (in the Design Concept category) for their innovative tram R1, the corporation’s press service reports. Red Dot Design Awards is a prestigious European consumer goods design contest, with over 4,000 designers (including those from such giants as Apple, Mercedes, Audi, and Bork) taking part every year. The awarding ceremony took place at the Red Dot Museum in Singapore on September 25. Around a hundred reputable designers from all over the world attended

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 1, 2015. Three new 5,000-kg electric bridge cranes made in Russia were mounted at Uralvagonzavod’s Casting Department 2, the company press service reports. The new cranes were custom-made for Uralvagonzavod, as their parameters had to be different from the standard measurements. For one, the leadstock pieces had to be 100mm narrower than the standard size. These modern cranes are used for making rolling stock, including the innovative gondola cars 12-196-01. The cranes have already been assembled and are now operating at the department’s three busiest sectors. The

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, October 1, 2015. Shareholders at Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) general meeting voted for the payment of 0.58 RUR (adjusted for taxation) per share in dividends, the company reports. Dividends will be paid out in cash in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the Federal Joint Stock Companies Act.

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, October 1, 2015. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) now focuses on low-budget, highly efficient investment projects with a short payoff period, the company reports. The shortlist of projects with payoff period of under 2 years is based on a longer list of proposals presented by MMK departments. In the first half of 2015, some fifty low-budget investment projects (Difficulty Level 2) were considered and implemented. There are 26 first-priority projects with the average payoff period of 1.22 years and 28 second-priority projects with the average

UrBC, Moscow, September 30, 2015. Russian Minister for Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev said railway fares might go up by 10% in the year 2016, Kommersant reports. ‘I see a 10% price increase as possible, given that no subsidies will be allocated from the national budget to freight forwarders,’ he said. According to the Minister, the government is also considering raising the mineral replacement tax for metallurgical enterprises. Besides, it is possible that Bank of Russia’s profits prove an extra source of budgetary income. ‘In my view, the Central Bank’s profits might be at play. There

UrBC, Moscow, September 30, 2015. Russian air carriers flew approximately as many passengers between January and August 2015 as they did in the eight months of 2014. The Association of Russian Tour Operators reports, however, that the ratio of domestic and international travelers shifted dramatically, with over a half of all flights operated by Russian airlines becoming domestic ones. The Russian companies’ overall passenger traffic declined by 0.6% in August; the number of international passengers went down by 16.3% (which continued the trend of a two-digit-percentage decrease in traffic in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 30, 2015. The overall amount of past-due foreign currency consumer loan repayments reached $33.945m in Sverdlovsk Region by early September, which exceeded the figures for a month earlier by 15.4%, Central Bank reports. According to the Bank of Russia, the amount of past-due ruble consumer loan repayments actually decreased from 8,402,194 RUR down to 8,177,414 RUR, or by 2.6%. The bank also reports the overall amount of past-due repayments on loans, deposits, and other financial packages issued to banks in rubles rose drastically by as much as 34 times (from 80m

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 30, 2015. A 300-meter-tall skyscraper will be put up in Yekaterinburg by 2023 in celebration of the 300 years since the city was founded, deputy head of city council for capital construction and land use Sergey Myamin said in his interview to Open Studio. Yekaterinburg on Channel 41-Domashniy. ‘The idea was already under consideration during the Innoprom 2015 Exhibition. An agreement to go through with the project has already been signed by the city council and Ural Mining & Metallurgical Company,’ Myamin said. The official explained the skyscraper would

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 30, 2015. Omsktransmash (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) managed to secure enough customer orders to keep its casting department running and thus reduce the number of prospective layoffs considerably, the corporation’s press service reports. The company management announced three months earlier that 454 positions were being done away with; eighty of these were vacant at the time, and 374 workers were informed that they would have to be made redundant. Thanks to the new orders, only 39 actual workers would have to be let go, and 115 vacant

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, September 30, 2015. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) took part in a conference on freight forwarding in the Black and Caspian Sea basins in Batumi, Georgia. MMK Senior Transport Management Director Rustam Giniyatullin presented his report on metallurgical cargo, its volume, key shipping destinations, current priorities, and forecast for 2015-2016. MMK keeps trying to improve its sea shipping logistics. For one, uniting sets of cargo into larger shipping lots results in decrease in costs and the time it takes to process cargo at the port of loading. So the company’s

UrBC, Moscow, September 29, 2015. The sales of smartphones dropped by 6%, down to 15m units, in Russia over the eight months of 2015, Interfax refers to Euroset as saying. In the meantime, the price of a smartphone averaged 9,600 RUR in late August, which is 16% more than a year earlier. ‘The price factor was not the decisive one, based on customer feedback this year. Even at the time of an economic downfall, customers do not look for the cheapest deals. What they do look for are technical parameters first, price and brand loyalty second. Thus brand loyalty is not on top of the list any more.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 29, 2015. The winter of 2015/2016 might turn out to be very difficult for the Urals’ tourist market. Most likely, no new destinations or last-minute deals will be on offer, Zima Leto Group’s press center reports. ‘The growing US dollar and euro exchange rates will result in foreign travel getting pricier, but the price increases will vary. The least popular destinations will actually increase in price the most, and these might grow up to 40% more costly. As for the more mass-market destinations such as the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Thailand, and Greece,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 29, 2015. The number of purchase and sales agreements relating to office space dropped by 30% to 40% in Yekaterinburg this year compared with the year 2014, Severnaya Kazna Commercial Estate Director Sergei Chupin said at a press conference. Chupin says the number of rental and lease contracts also declined by 15% to 20%. ‘This means the Ural business community en masse is now switching to less expensive segments. The market’s overall downward trend has to do with the dramatic economic downfall, a 30% decline in investments, loans getting more expensive, and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 29, 2015. The average rental price for Yekaterinburg’s street retailers dropped by 21% between January and September, Head of Ural Real Estate Chamber’s Analytic Department Mikhail Khorkov said at a press conference. ‘At the same time, the average price of a purchase and sale deal in the same sector only decreased by 5%. The main reason behind these decreases is the losses currently incurred by Sverdlovsk Region’s retailers. Besides, quite a few investors leaving the market made its impact as well,’he said. Khorkov said the rental price only went down by 1% in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 29, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant celebrated Machine-Builder’s Day recently. The leading Russian industry’s best workers took part in a solemn ceremony at I.V. Okunev Palace of Culture in Nizhniy Tagil, the company press service reports. The plant’s Chief Engineer Yuri Shangin addressed the audience on behalf of the management: ‘Ours is a multi-industry enterprise, so a third of our workers celebrate Metallurgist’s Day, another third celebrate Railway Worker’s Day, and yet another third celebrate Tankman’s Day. However, we are also each and every

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 28, 2015. The inflow of foreign stars who bring their shows to Yekaterinburg is down due to the financial and economic crisis in the country, Teleclub and Dom Pechati producer Semyon Galperin told UrBC in an interview. According to Galperin, the performers' fees went up in proportion to the growing dollar and euro exchange rate, which was to be expected. A $10,000 show used to cost 300,000 RUR before but costs as much as 700,000 RUR now. 'Hardly anyone can cope with such price increases; as a result, the demand for foreign stars' shows has been

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 28, 2015. Existing home prices keep dropping on Yekaterinburg estate market, Ural Real Estate Chamber reports. As of September 21, the average asking price came to 72,455 RUR per m2, down 4.9% on the start of the year. Prices in the most expensive part of the city went down to 99,712 RUR per m2 in the last four weeks; as for the second most expensive districts, the average asking price declined by 0.7%, down to 76,854 RUR per m2. As for the third and fourth most expensive areas, prices dropped by 0.5% (down to 66,704 RUR per m2) and by 1.3% (down to 62,344 RUR

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 28, 2015. Seversky Pipe Plant/STZ (a member enterprise of Pipe Metallurgical Company) can now make CC rough stock for boiler tubes, the company press service reports. The rough stock was ordered by Sinarsky Pipe Plant (one of Pipe Metallurgical Company's Urals-based member enterprises as well). The plant used to get its rough stock from Volzhsky Pipe Plant (yet another one of Pipe Metallurgical Company's member enterprises) before. The technical parameters for boiler tube stock made of 20/5 steel were designed by Seversky Pipe Plant in cooperation with

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 28, 2015. ChTPZ Group organized a business conference for over forty representatives of industrial enterprises from different parts of Russia, the company press service reports. Visitors to the conference took a tour of Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) first, taking a look at the Iron Ozone 32 (the electric steel-smelting facility) and Finishing Center, among other things. The Group's development strategy was the primary focus of the forum. The company's key priorities for 2015-2020 are improvements in the Group's