A continuous hot galvanizing unit produced by the Italian Danieli & C. Officine Meccaniche SpA was launched at MMK- Atakaş in Iskenderun, Turkey recently. The new unit’s estimated capacity comes to 450,000 tons of zinc-coated rolled products a year. These goods are to be both sold and used at some further manufacturing stages on a polymeric coating unit. Now this unit, launched on January 15, 2010, has a capacity of 200,000 tons of goods a year. According to MMK’s PR Department, their MMK-Atakaş project is being implemented in accordance with the schedule. At the final stage, MMK-Atakaş’s

Uralfinprombank’s Board of Directors decided not to distribute the better part of the company’s profits for 2009 prior to the general shareholder meeting. These profits amount to 34.15 million RUR, with another 1.79 million already transferred to the bank’s reserve fund. The annual general meeting is to take place in Yekaterinburg on May 14, 2010, the bank says.

According to the European Business Association, the sales of light-duty vehicles rose by 6% in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the first quarter of 2009: 21,062 automobiles were sold in January-March 2010 against 19,962 cars sold in January-March 2009. Nevertheless, the sales of certain brands have gone down. For one, the sales of both Volkswagen NFZ and Nissan cars decreased by 40%, those of Ford cars dropped by 64%, those of Mercedes-Benz Vans automobiles declined by 85%, and those of Toyota cars plunged by 90% compared with the first quarter of 2009.

Rosalcohol (the federal strong drinks market watchdog) decided to cancel the licenses of some Sverdlovsk Region-based strong drinks producers and traders for the time being. Among these companies are OOO Omega Spirits Group, whose license was halted on January 14, 2010, OOO Lux-Alco Trade Company, whose license was halted on January 14, 2010, OOO Invina-Opt, whose license was halted on March 22, 2010, OOO Beauty Therapy Center, whose license was halted on February 3, 2010, OOO Prometheus, whose license was halted on March 22, 2010, OOO Prodtechsnab, whose license was halted on March 22, 2010,

‘Due to last year’s recession, our Pyshma logistics park’s occupancy rate dropped from 100% to 40%, or 80,000 sq m in 2009. We have only recently been able to raise this figure to 75%,’ Eurasia Logistic’s Commercial Director Sergey Vereschagin announced at this year’s Urals Logistics Conference. ‘As for our tenants, things have changed here as well. We used to let 50% of the available space to logistics operators in 2008; a year later, they only rented 35% of our space. In 2009, some of them had to reduce the amount of space rented, and some of them had to leave the market altogether.

The workers of Alexandrinskaya ore mining company (which is a member of Russian Copper Company Holding) organized an official picket aimed at protesting against their employer’s unfair trade union policies. The picket took place in front of Russian Copper Company’s office in Chelyabinsk on April 19, 2010, the Russian Federation Mining & Metallurgical Trade Union reports. ‘The company’s trade union has felt strong administrative pressure for many months now. When the management have to make somebody redundant, they mostly pick the trade union’s most active representatives. The trade

In the first quarter of 2010, OOO NLMK-Sort that now comprises all of Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works’ section iron divisions raised its home market sales to 277,000 tons of metal goods, which was 28% better than in the first quarter of 2009, the company’s press officer reports. The company’s domestic customers bought 225,000 tons of reinforcing bars, which was 26% more than in January-March 2009. Also, they bought about 8,000 tons of wire rods, which exceeded the figures for the first quarter of 2009 by 27%, and over 40,000 tons of metal goods, which exceeded the figures for the first

Severouralsk Investigative Division of Sverdlovsk Region’s public prosecution authorities completed its pre-inquest investigation of the accident that occurred at OAO Sevuralboksitruda’s Krasnaya Shapochka mine on March 10, 2010. The accident left the company’s twenty-eight-year-old shaft man badly injured, allegedly because the safety regulations were not complied with during his shift. Following the investigation, Severouralsk Investigative Division of Sverdlovsk Region’s public prosecution authorities instituted a criminal lawsuit, with charges based on Article 216 (part 1) of the Russian

The representatives of the European airlines that operate flights to or from Yekaterinburg refused to attend a press conference on Wednesday. The press conference on who should be responsible for solving the problems of local and foreign tourists stuck in different places due to the Iceland volcano’s eruption took place in Yekaterinburg on April 21, 2010. The event was attended by the representatives of the Federal Migration Service and of the local travel agents. However, the announced airlines executives never showed up. According to Vice President of the Ural Tourist Association Sergey

Finnair’s Yekaterinburg-Helsinki flight was not operated on Wednesday, April 21, 2010, the spokesperson for Koltsovo Airport informed UrBC. The airline had actually warned its customers in advance that this could be the case. The carrier operates its Yekaterinburg-Helsinki flight three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. So far, Finnair has had to cancel the flights that were to have been operated on April 19, 2010 and April 21, 2010. The company has not provided any comments on whether the Friday flight will be operated yet.

Sverdlovsk Region Duma agreed to accept the region’s share of one commercial estate in its public treasury. The share in question comes to 16.38% of Uspenskiy Mall, located in the center of Yekaterinburg and run by Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the State Property Ministry State Unitary Enterprise up to now. This share’s balance-sheet value has been estimated at 145.05 million RUR, while the shopping areas rented by various tenants yield about 2.2 million RUR worth of profits every month. At the moment, the above-mentioned State Unitary Enterprise only transfers 20% of its net profits to the

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) keeps putting up its cold-rolling Mill 2000 within the framework of the company’s cold-rolling facilities investment project. The mill is mainly meant for the production of high-quality cold-rolled and zinc-coated automobile body sheets as well as of materials for home appliances manufacturers and for the building industry. The facility’s capacity has been estimated at 2 million tons of goods a year. According to MMK’s PR Department, the workers have nearly completed the excavation and are now putting up equipment foundations as well as making and

A-Win Consultants Limited recently bought a 15% shareholding in Yekaterinburg non-ferrous metals processing plant. At the same time, the share of Indesticoplaz Trading Limited in the plant’s capital was reduced from 86.29% to 71.29%, the issuer reports.

The official visit of Sverdlovsk Region’s delegates to Mongolia that had been scheduled for April 21, 2010 was postponed. The delegation was to have consisted of the regional government’s ministers, representatives of the local business community, and some university professors. Some of the delegates report they have been informed that their visit was suddenly put off till May 23, 2010 upon the host country’s request. In the meantime, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin is to attend a joint meeting of the Russian Federation State Council’s presidium, the presidium of Science,

Czech Airlines’s Prague-Yekaterinburg flight arrived safely in Yekaterinburg’s Koltsovo Airport on Tuesday. Last week, a volcanic eruption in Iceland that left most of Europe covered in an ash cloud made most companies cancel their flights from or to Europe, including those operated to or from Yekaterinburg. However, it was recently announced that things were getting back to normal.

The net profit of OOO Uralvagonzavod-Finance decreased by 83.33% over one quarter. The figures dropped from 12,000 RUR in the last quarter of 2009 to 2,000 RUR in the first quarter of 2010. OOO Uralvagonzavod-Finance explains the drop in net profits has to do with increased general running costs and other expenses.

Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Anatoly Gredin organized a governmental sustainability committee meeting in order to discuss the financial situation at Auchan, IKEA, METRO Cash & Carry, and OBI’s local subsidiaries with their representatives. The officials also wanted to assess the government and the enterprises’ cooperation prospects, including those concerning a number of social welfare projects, the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region Governor reported. Anatoly Gredin said the foreign retail chains did not fully provide the region’s trade ministry with the data on their activity.

‘Finnair normally operates its Yekaterinburg-Helsinki flight three times a week, that is, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The flights scheduled for Monday, April 19, and for Wednesday, April 21, have already been called off. The Friday flight, however, is still on the timetable for the time being,’ deputy head of Finnair’s Yekaterinburg representation Vladimir Krivozhikhin informed UrBC. ‘The passengers are normally informed about a cancellation via telephone. They are usually offered to use another flight, a transfer one, or they can refuse to travel altogether, in which case Finnair

Following a massive volcanic eruption in Iceland that made flying over Northern Europe impossible, Ural Airlines had to postpone its Moscow-Rimini and Yekaterinburg-Prague-Yekaterinburg flights. One of the carrier’s planes bound for Rimini had to land in Vienna, the airline’s press officer said to the UrBC reporters. ‘We have just been notified that things are now getting back to normal and that the European skies are open for the planes once again. Our U6-701 flight is to be operated at 9 PM on Monday; we are also coordinating a number of chartered flights from Moscow to Rimini at the

Air China Limited cancelled its latest Beijing-Yekaterinburg flight. According to Koltsovo Airport’s announcement board, the plane from Beijing was supposed to have landed in Yekaterinburg at 10:25 PM on Monday. Meanwhile, Finnair Oyj and Czech Airlines have also called off their flights from Yekaterinburg to Helsinki and Prague, respectively.