UrBC, Moscow, June 26, 2019. Every other Russian household currently has a loan of some sort, and more than 10% of these households have to direct more than a half of their monthly income to loan repayment, the National Association of Professional Collection Agencies (NAPCA)’s press service reports. ‘Unfortunately, the current situation means there is a risk that certain Russian families with a loan burden will end up with overdue debt. The overdue debt amount comes to RUB 70,000-RUB 80,000 on average at the moment. Based on our data, some 47% of households say they cannot keep repaying the

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, June 26, 2019. The average micro-loan amount issued on Chelyabinsk Region market in the first quarter of 2019 rose by 1.8% against one year earlier and came to RUB 6,778 (against RUB 6,656 in the first quarter of 2018), the National Credit History Bureau’s press service reports. According to the 3,000 micro-financing organizations and consumer lending co-operatives that provide their statistics for the bureau, the average micro-loan amount remained nearly the same in the first quarter of 2019 as in the first quarter of 2018, only going up slightly (by 1.4%) and reaching RUB

UrBC, Moscow, June 26, 2019. The Russians’ demand for foreign currency bills rose by 8% in April 2019 compared with March 2019 and amounted to $4.8bn altogether, TASS refers to the Bank of Russia Bulletin as stating. According to the CBR, the private customers’ demand for the U.S. dollars rose by 3% in April 2019 against March 2019 and amounted to $2.9bn all in all; the demand for Euro banknotes rose by 16% and amounted to the equivalent of $1.8bn. The share of U.S. dollars in the overall amount of foreign cash Russians have been buying thus dropped by 3% (down to 60%) and the share of the

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, June 25, 2019. A digital system to monitor the availability of railcars has been launched at two sheet-rolling departments at Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) this month. The system will help track any rolling stock problems and will enhance the efficiency of the shipment process greatly. According to MMK’s Information, PR & Advertising Department, the sheet-rolling departments now have video surveillance equipment, railcar number recognition software, and appliances to control the direction of the railcars and the amount of cargo inside. The new system has

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 25, 2019. EVRAZ Consolidated West-Siberian Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ ZSMK) is hosting the 4th EVRAZ WorldSkills blue-collar job championship on June 24-27. A professional skills contest is taking place at the plant at the same time, EVRAZ Holding Siberia’s Corporate Communications Center reports. More than three hundred skilled workers and experts from six large industrial enterprises (EVRAZ Consolidated West-Siberian Metallurgical Plant, EVRAZ Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Plant, Kachkanarsky Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise, Raspadskaya Coal Company, EVRAZ

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, June 25, 2019. The first batch of pipes got delivered from ChelPipe Group’s warehouse to NLMK Group this month. The pipes made at the Group’s member enterprises Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant (ChelPipe) and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) will get used for the major reconstruction of a blast furnace at Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), NLMK Group’s primary production site. According to ChelPipe Group’s press service, NLMK placed an order for a number of cold-deformed, hot-rolled, and stainless steel pipes (diameter: 14 mm to 426 mm; layer thickness: 2 mm to 56 mm). Based on the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 25, 2019. EVRAZ Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ NTMK) started making several new types of section-shaped rolled metal goods this year, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Communications Center’s PR Department reports. The plant’s beam-making department recently manufactured its first batch of new HE 200 beams according to EN 10365-2017; the plant’s rail- and beam-making department made its first batch of No.20 equal leg angle according to GOST 8509-93. HE 200 beams are a variety of H-beams used for making support structures for high-rise buildings. EVRAZ NTMK can

UrBC, Moscow, June 25, 2019. MegaFon was the first Russian telecom company to offer its customers money for paying their mobile phone bills in March; the company’s new customers can now enjoy a 100% cashback option on a range of new payment plans, MegaFon’s press service reports. Starting June 24, everyone who subscribes to certain payment plans offered by MegaFon can get 100% of the amount they have paid for the plan and for their international roaming service back; that is, the new customers will get reimbursed for the month they have signed up for the plan and for the next coming month.

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, June 24, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) shipped 181,070,000 kg of rolled section steel items to customers in May 2019; this has been the largest monthly shipment since the plant’s rolled section steel department got launched. According to MMK’s Information, PR & Advertising Department, the previous record (172,000,000 kg of rolled section steel shipped to customers in the course of one month) was set in July 2015. ‘The plant’s rolled section steel department is currently working at its full capacity; MMK made around 1,800,000,000 kg last year, with 98%

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 24, 2019. The World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) representatives recently completed their tech support mission (with a focus on a strong nuclear safety culture) at Rosatom’s Beloyarskaya Nuclear Power Plant. According to the nuclear plant’s Information & PR Department, the mission was aimed at experience- and expertise-sharing and at enhancing the plant’s staff’s professional skills with the best global practices as the model. ‘Any assessment we get from the international experts helps us improve and develop our competencies,’ says the plant’s director

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 24, 2019. A Sverdlovsk Region-based worker got RUB 40,168 on average in terms of monthly pay in April 2019; this exceeded the figures for one year earlier by 7.2%, Sverdlovskstat reports. In the healthcare sector, the pay rose by 10.4% and reached RUB 38,994 a month on average; in the construction sector, the pay went up by 10.1% and reached RUB 33,190 a month on average; as for the wages and salaries in the processing industry, retail and wholesale trade, finance and insurance, and handling and storage, these increased by 8.8% (up to RUB 44,927 a month), 5.6% (up to

UrBC, Moscow, June 24, 2019. The Central Bank of Russia pointed to two primary factors behind the drop in private customers’ bank savings (from 10.7% down to 6.5%) last year, the bank’s recent report on the state of affairs in the banking sector in 2018 says. A change in people’s behavioral patterns in combination with the shrinking share of savings in their income management structure (from 8.1% in 2017 down to 5.6% in 2018) is stated as the first factor. People’s growing interest in alternative ways of investing money (real estate and stock market) is stated as the second one.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 24, 2019. There were 228,023 workers in hazardous employment in Sverdlovsk Region last year (174,991 men and 53,032 women), Sverdlovskstat reports. According to the agency’s research findings, 132,432 local workers get exposed to noise, ultrasound, infrasound, and airborne sound. 55,708 people are employed in the chemical industry. 33,243 workers get exposed to localized and generalized vibration.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 21, 2019. The developer RSG-Akademicheskoye is coordinating an auction to find the contractor to complete an urban improvement project next to apartment buildings 9.1.2 and 9.4.2 in Quarter 9 in District Akademicheskiy, Yekaterinburg, the developer’s press service reports. The opening bid for the lot in question has been set at RUB 10,931,000 (20% VAT included). Under the terms of the auction, the work needs to get completed between the day the contract gets signed and September 2019. Potential bidders can sign up for the event on June 20-July 5, 2019. The results

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 21, 2019. An automated earthmoving equipment/vehicle monitoring system has been launched at EVRAZ Holding’s Kachkanarsky Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise mines this month, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Communications Center’s PR Department reports. The system controls the dumper trucks', bulldozers’, excavators’, auto-loaders’, and food trucks’ location and performance parameters and feeds the information into the server in real-time mode. The wireless connection available in four mines is used to send the data on the operating speed, mileage, fuel level,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 21, 2019. The developer RSG-Akademicheskoye is coordinating an auction to find the contractor to build a temporary road and pavement in Timofeyev-Resovsky St (Blocks 26.2, 26.4, and 26.8) with exit ramps to the bridges in Wilhelm de Gennin St and Ryabinin St in District Akademicheskiy, Yekaterinburg, the developer’s press service reports. The opening bid for the lot in question has been set at RUB 8,983,000 (20% VAT included). Under the terms of the auction, the work needs to get completed between the day the contract gets signed and September 2019. Potential bidders

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 21, 2019. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) looked into the data of new customers who opened a savings account with the bank between January 1 and June 1, 2019, the bank’s press service reports. ‘It appears that married people tend to save up most proactively, as the share of married customers among those who set up a savings account with the UBRD comes to 69%. Our female customers generally open savings accounts more often than our male customers, but the average amount of money men put in a deposit tends to be larger than that deposited by

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 21, 2019. Ural Airlines introduced more Moscow-Anaya-Moscow flights this summer, the air carrier’s press service reports. ‘Our planes will take you to the Black Sea up to four times a day through mid-October. The extra flights got added because Anapa proved really popular with Moscow’s vacationers,’ the press service says. Anapa-bound flights will get operated on the comfortable Airbus liners through October 13, 2019. The tickets can be booked on the company website www.uralairlines.com, on Ural Airlines mobile app, over the phone +7-800-7700-262, and at any booking

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 20, 2019. MegaFon and Ural Forest Conservation Air Base introduced online monitoring systems at fifteen more Sverdlovsk Region-based foresters, the telecom company’s press service reports. MegaFon and the air base first launched the remote video surveillance service to keep track of forest fires as early as 2014, when twenty-four different locations got monitored. This year, cameras arrived in fifteen more spots in Sysert, Nizhniy Tagil, Nevyansk, Tugulym, Sukhoi Log, Tavda, Irbit, Alapayevsk, Kushva, Sotrinsky, Verkhoturye, Berezovsky, Rezh, and Sinyachikha

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 20, 2019. Ural Airline are offering their customers extra discounts on state-subsidized plane tickets, the air carrier’s press service reports. The offer holds through June 23 and applies to the following flights to get operated between September 15 and December 15: Moscow-Kaliningrad and Kaliningrad-Moscow (prices start from RUB 500, one way); Yekaterinburg-Chita and Chita-Yekaterinburg (prices start from RUB 2,500, one way); Moscow-Chita and Chita-Moscow (prices start from RUB 3,000, one way); Moscow-Blagoveshchensk and Blagoveshchensk-Moscow (prices start from RUB