November 28, 2012. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) kept its pipe sales output at nearly the same level as in 2011: the figures came to 3,156,000 tons. The sales of weldless pipes rose by 6% against a year earlier and reached 1,876,000 tons. The OCTG sales increased by 16% on the previous year due to Russia’s growing oil and natural gas production output, the company’s press service reports. The volume of welded pipe sales declined by 9% in comparison with a year earlier and reached 1,280,000 tons. At the same time, the OCTG and line pipe sales increased by 9% and 23%, respectively, while the

November 28, 2012. The reconstruction and improvements of Nizhny Tagil Institute of Metal Testing (NTIIM) demonstration facilities will mean that the traditional arms exhibition in Nizhniy Tagil will be taken to a totally new level, Governor Evgeny Kuivashev said on November 26 during a field meeting of Sverdlovsk Region Government’s Presidium. The meeting was dedicated to Nizhniy Tagil’s socioeconomic development, the Governor’s Information Policies Department reports. The Governor said that changes should affect not only the material and technical aspects of the exhibition but also the

November 28, 2012. Sverdlovsk Region Government decided yesterday that it would go through with a government bonds issue for 2012; the bonds will be assigned a fixed coupon yield and debt amortization. The state serial number is RU34002SVS0, the decree states. The date of the offering has been set for December 5, 2012. The bonds total to 3m pieces, the total bond issue amounts to 3bn RUR. The bonds are to be in circulation for 1,825 days. The rate is to be determined by the Finance Ministry on the basis of applications submitted by the bidders for the offer. Bank VTB acts as the general agent

November 27, 2012. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, a member of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation, signed two contracts for the delivery of ten B-12 bulldozers to Vietnam with the Hanoi subsidiary of VU TRAK, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. The bulldozers will be delivered in two installments. The first five vehicles will be shipped in November, and five more will be shipped in December. The plant is to manufacture the tropics-suited version of the bulldozers: the electrical equipment will be supplied with extra protection against the hot and humid climate,

November 27, 2012. In the nine months of 2012, Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor recovered 35.1m RUR worth of fines, which comes to 72% of all the fines imposed by the agency. All in all, 90,142 legal offenses have been registered over the given period, the agency’s website states. The officials drew up 16,683 administrative offense protocols, issued 956 warrants, and had 446 people suspended. 130 companies had to stop operating for some time.

November 27, 2012. The development of Sverdlovsk Region building industry’s production base is becoming ever more noticeable: new building materials-manufacturing facilities are opening in the region, and the total production output of building materials is growing. So far, about 13.5bn RUR has been invested in the industry, Sverdlovsk Region Government Press Service & Information Administration reports. In order to expand and modernize production, Sverdlovsk Region is implementing a program on the development of Sverdlovsk Region building industry’s production in 2011-2015; the program

November 27, 2012. Industrial enterprises of the Sverdlovsk region have become the object of interest of foreign investors. Active search for the assets in the Ural region has appeared by French consulting company «Effort Management Group» (EM Group). Project office of this company is located in the center of Paris and unites top experts in finance, law, business management and information policy. Formed by the merger of the Russian shareholders and the European funds, EM Group established itself in the European market as a consulting company specialized in industrial assets comprehensive

November 27, 2012. The Urals branch of MegaFon announces its mobile network is ready for the mountain skiing season, when both the number of phone calls and online activity are expected to increase dramatically in popular winter skiing locations, the company’s press service reports. As for Sverdlovsk Region, the skiers and snowboarders who use MegaFon can rely on the carrier’s services in such popular mountains as Yezhovaya, Pilnaya, Listvennaya, Belaya, Uktus, Volchikha, and others. ‘Prior to this year’s launch of the mountain ski resorts telecommunications services, the company’s engineers

November 27, 2012. SverdlovEnergoSbyt is planning to implement about 9,000 court rulings regarding the enforced recovery of debts, the company’s press service reports. About 9,000 court rulings involving those who don’t pay their electricity bills are now being implemented; these amount to some 50m RUR. 7,000 warrants of execution amounting to about 24m RUR have already been directed to the Service of Officers of the Court. Finally, 2,000 warrants of execution worth 26m RUR were directed by SverdlovEnergoSbyt to the local banks. If debtors happen to have settlement accounts in these banks,

November 26, 2012. Sputnik, the hockey team sponsored by Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation, completed the first round of the Supreme Hockey League (VHL) in a series of three home games, the corporation’s press service reports. The championship is now half-way through, and the Nizhniy Tagil team is now one of VHL leaders that tops the list of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Byelorussia’s 27 hockey teams. Early in the 2012/2013 season, Sputnik has already won four non-home matches (two of the winning matches were with the current VHL champion and vice-champion teams). The Nizhniy

November 26, 2012. Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s head office has already met the annual target figures for railway vehicles output: 24,830 units have been manufactured since the beginning of the year, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. This means that the company has already met the annual plan adopted at the BOD meeting. 19,347 gondola cars of various types and 5,315 cisterns have been produced by now. The number of lumber vehicles rose to 168. All in all, these figures are 7.2% better than a year earlier. The company expects to produce 3,000 more

November 26, 2012. People living in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, and Novosibirsk use online hotel booking options for their New Year recess more often than residents of other Russian cities, Interfax refers to Oktogo.ru (the Russian online hotel booking service) as saying. According to their research findings, about 75% of all the bookings through Oktogo.ru is done by the residents of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. People living in Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, and Novosibirsk are responsible for 15% of all the reservations; Perm, Krasnoyarsk, Kazan, Voronezh, and Samara are

November 26, 2012. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court postponed the hearing of Russian Magnesium bankruptcy case because not enough materials are currently available for the case, the court’s website states. Now in September, Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court’s website carried an announcement that Asbest-based Russian Magnesium submitted a bankruptcy application with them. The company’s primary shareholder, the Swiss Minmet Financing Company S.A., stopped financing the project altogether in November 2011. This was exactly why the company now owes about 60m RUR in terms of wages, taxes, and

November 26, 2012. MRSK Holding will be renamed into Russian Grids, with a state-owned 79.55% shareholding in FSK UES added to its authorized capital. A decree to this extent was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin’s press service reports. The decree states that is was signed ‘in order to further develop the Russian Federation’s electrical network, to coordinate the management of this sector, and to keep the end user electricity rates at bay.’ The state currently owns 54.52% of the Interregional Distribution Grid Companies Holding’s shares, Prime reports.

November 23, 2012. Uralvagonzavod presented a report on the results of the sports contests held within the company. This large-scale sports event is coordinated annually as a measure to make the workers healthier, and different tours take place throughout the year. Not only the workers from the corporation’s head plant but also the employees of Uralcryomash, Ural Transport Machine-Building Design Bureau, UBT-Uralvagonzavod, the fire and security departments, and some customers’ representatives’ join the contests, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. In 2012, about 17,000 people

November 23, 2012. In 2012, over 1m sq m of housing will be commissioned in Yekaterinburg. This means that the Urals’ capital has been keeping up with this one-million figure for many years now, the press service refers to the city council’s Architecture & Construction Surveillance Inspection as stating. To date, 527,000 sq m worth of housing have been commissioned in Yekaterinburg since the beginning of the year, including 4421,000 sq m worth of apartment buildings, nearly 3,000 sq m worth of low-rise apartment buildings, and over 100,000 sq m worth of detached houses. In terms of

November 23, 2012. Burger King’s second Yekaterinburg-based restaurant will be opened in Mega Shopping Center’s food court soon. The food court spot designated for the fast food chain now displays an advertising banner that announces the upcoming launch. Burger King currently runs one restaurant in Yekaterinburg; this one is located at the intersection of Malyshev St and Vainer St. Burger King entered the Russian market two years ago and now operates over 50 places in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Yekaterinburg. The company is planning to set up hundreds of restaurants in different parts of

November 23, 2012. Ural Airlines has already met and exceeded the target figures for offering its air carrier services to passengers who get discounts within the framework of the government-run program on making air travel affordable for people flying from the Far East to the European part of Russia and back, the airline’s press service reports. According to Rosaviation, Ural Airlines flew about 12,000 such passengers in April-November 2012 and used 75m RUR from the federal budget in order to do this; this figure is two times bigger than a year earlier. The airline is now the country’s No.1

November 23, 2012. Russian Vice Premier Arkady Dvorkovitch and Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev paid a visit to Yekaterinburg’s stand dedicated to the application for hosting the World Universal Exhibition EXPO in 2020 today; the stand is currently located in Paris, EXPO 2020 Application Committee Autonomous Non-Profit Organization’s press service reports. Head of EXPO 2020 application committee, Senator Arkady Chernetsky, Mayor of Yekaterinburg Alexander Yakov, Head of EXPO 2020 Application Committee Autonomous Non-Profit Organization Eric Bugulov, and representatives of the

November 22, 2012. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant will ship a large batch of road construction vehicles to Byelorussia before the end of November, UVZ Corporation’s press service reports. Under the terms of the tender the company won, the plant is to ship 53 marsh-fit bulldozers to Byelorussia, including five tractor sets that will be assembled in Minsk. Chelyabinsk-produced vehicles will be used for melioration in all parts of the country. Russia’s CIS neighbors managed to retain this industry, but their fleet of tractor vehicles dates back to the Soviet times and needs to be replaced.