UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 25, 2019. According to Rosstat, the price of garbage pick-up and waste disposal rose by 2.5 times on Sverdlovsk Region market this year. Prices also went up by 1.3 times in Chelyabinsk Region and by 1.1 times in Tyumen Region, the Central Bank of Russia’s Ural division’s press service reports. The annual inflation rate was estimated at 4.7% in Sverdlovsk Region in January 2019; in Chelyabinsk Region, Tyumen Region (including its autonomous regions), and Kurgan Region, the figures were, respectively, 4.1%, 2.8%, and 5%. According to the Central Bank, increased

UrBC, Moscow, February 25, 2019. Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev asked the Finance Ministry to look into the issue of whether lifting value-added tax on gold purchased by private customers would be expedient. The Finance Ministry is expected to present its considerations on the expediency of lifting VAT on gold purchased by private customers (provided there are no requirements to store the said gold in certified safety vaults), the Russian Government’s press service refers to Dmitri Medvedev as saying at his recent meeting with the Federation Council members. The Ministry must produce

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 22, 2019. Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems had its 500-kilowatt Surgutskaya Power Station-Pyt-Yakh Main tested with infrared appliances, FGC UES Western Siberia’s PR & Media Group reports. The main got examined with a thermal imaging unit (from a helicopter). The testing confirmed that the main is fully ready to handle maximum workloads at peak times. ‘The infrared diagnostics’ main advantage is that you can measure the temperature of spots where the cables intersect with shield wires remotely; this means the entire main can get safely inspected

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 22, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Group directed nearly RUB 2.5 billion to social welfare programs and charity projects last year, which exceeded the figures for the year 2017 by 11%. According to the Group’s Information & PR Department, the company allocated more than RUB 1.6 billion to social welfare programs, with a focus on the employee healthcare projects. The Group directed around RUB 425 million to a number of medical programs and covering the workers’ medical bills in 2018; Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works provided about 50% of

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, February 22, 2019. Chelyabinsk Region proved No.13 on the national lending market in terms of the average spending limit on credit cards; the rating involved top thirty Russian constituencies all in all. The limit in question amounted to RUB 42,898 on average in the second quarter of 2018 and RUB 48,015 in the last quarter of 2018 (+11.9%). According to the National Credit History Bureau, Moscow-based credit card holders enjoyed the largest spending limits in the fourth quarter of 2018 (RUB 89,900); they were followed by the cardholders in Saint Petersburg (RUB 72,400) and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 22, 2019. The spending limit on credit cards issued by Sverdlovsk Region-based banks came to RUB 50,839 on average in the last quarter of 2018. This was 4.7% more than in the second quarter of 2018, the National Credit History Bureau’s press service reports. ‘After the average spending limits kept gradually going down from the second half of 2017 on, they then started rising in the second half of 2018. This was mainly because it was in this lending segment where the banks managed their risks most efficiently. Spending limits were one key factor in this risk

UrBC, Moscow, February 22, 2019. The Central Bank of Russia intends to limit Russians’ access to forex trading and to only allow qualified investors enter the forex market, the bank’s Vice Chair Vladimir Chistyukhin told TASS. ‘Allowing forex dealers to operate legally would be a very big step. The Central Bank has opposed the respective draft bill for a long time, but the legislative authorities made their decision as they saw fit. However, the proposed legal mechanisms are obviously insufficient to ensure protection for private players. We are about to compete our draft bill on qualified

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 21, 2019. The fourth gas-filtering/dust-trapping unit got recently launched at EVRAZ Consolidated West-Siberian Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ ZSMK) Sintering Plant. The launch of the unit signified the end of gas-filtering facility renovation process. The plant’s PR Department reports the four filtering units that are now all active process 900,000 m3 of air every hour, with filtering efficiency at 99%. The sock filters within the units are very efficient in trapping dust (which can then get recycled). Moreover, ZSMK managed to reduce its sintering plant’s harmful

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 21, 2019. Students on ChelPipe Group’s Future of White-Coated Metallurgy Training Program won ten medals at the 7th Sverdlovsk Region round of the blue-collar skills championship WorldSkills Russia. This means the Group’s team came 9th in the contest of 79 competing local schools and colleges, the Group’s press service reports. The company’s current students and future employees competed in eight different categories: Reverse Engineering, Industrial Robotics, Prototyping, CAD Engineering, NC Milling, Industrial Automation, Industrial Mechanics & Assembly, and

UrBC, Moscow, February 21, 2019. Expert RA carried with a preliminary report on the Russian lending market for small and medium enterprises in 2018. The amount of loans issued to SMEs rose by 11% last year compared with the year 2017 and came to RUB 6.8 trillion; this is the closest the figures have got to the pre-recession year 2014 (RUB 6.9 trillion) so far, the rating agency’s press service reports. These were primarily the larger players that shaped the market dynamics: the share of loans issued to SMEs by the country’s top thirty banks rose to 74% in 2018 against 66% one year earlier;

UrBC, Moscow, February 21, 2019. Russia’s retail trade turnover rose by 1.6% in January 2019 compared with January 2018 (in comparable prices) and reached RUB 2.489 trillion, Rosstat reports. In monthly terms, the trade turnover dropped by 25.3%, whereas in December 2018, the retail trade turnover rose by 2.3% against December 2017. As for the year 2018 on the whole, the retail trade turnover went up by 2.6% compared with one year previously. ‘The share of food items (including beverages) and tobacco products in the overall retail trade structure came to 48.3%; that of non-food items came to

UrBC, Moscow, February 21, 2019. The amount of foreign currency Russians bought in December 2018 dropped by 11% compared with November 2018 and thus came to $5.1bn, the Central Bank of Russia’s Bank of Russia Publications state. The overall demand for foreign currency includes both actual banknotes purchased through banks and the money taken out of foreign currency accounts. According to the CBR, the demand for foreign currency dropped by 11% in December 2018 compared with November 2018 and came to $5.1bn. Compared with December 2016 and 2017, the demand dropped by 24% and 21%, respectively.

UrBC, Moscow, February 20, 2019. Russia faced $6.3bn in losses through trade sanctions, excise duties, and protectionist measures taken by a number of counters last year, the Economy Ministry’s recent report on the external market barriers indicates. 62 countries imposed 159 limitations on Russian goods altogether. These were mainly protectionist tariffs and import duties, extra licensing requirements, quotas, technical setbacks, sanitary barriers, and sanctions. Russia’s economy suffered most from the EU sanctions ($2.4bn), U.S. sanctions ($1.1bn), and the sanctions imposed by Ukraine

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 20, 2019. Sverdlovsk Region’s industrial production index (IPI) dropped by 20.9% in January 2019 compared with December 2018 and by 3.2% compared with January 2018. According to Sverdlovskstat, the IPI declined by 44.6% in the fossil production sector in January 2019 against December 2018 (and by 30.2% against January 2018). The IPI went down by 20.4% in the processing industries in January 2019 against December 2018 (and by 2.7% against January 2018). The index also rose by 16.1% in the sector for production and distribution of electric power, natural gas, and

UrBC, Moscow, February 20, 2019. ChelPipe’s credit rating was recently affirmed by Expert RA at ruA+, with Stable rating outlook, the rating agency reports. Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant Group (ChelPipe Group) is an industrial group of metallurgical companies and a major pipe manufacturing business. The Group’s key production assets are based in Chelyabinsk (Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant/ChelPipe), Pervouralsk (Pervorualsk New Pipe Plant/PNTZ), Almetyevsk, and Izhevsk (Rimera). ChelPipe and PNTZ were responsible for some 55% and 35% of the Group’s consolidated profits in 2017, respectively.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 20, 2019. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) is launching a special offer on its mortgage programs. According to the bank’s press service, under the terms of the offer people applying for mortgage can get 0.35% off their annual interest rate if they manage to proceed with the deal within thirty days of the bank approving of their application. The final interest rate might be even lower than the base rate applicable to a particular banking product, be it a mortgage on an existing home, paying off a mortgage issued by another bank, or a

UrBC, Moscow, February 20, 2019. RUB 1.38 billion worth of unauthorized plastic card transactions took place on the Russian market in 2018, Russia’s Central Bank’s report on last year’s unauthorized transfers indicates. It is reported that the unauthorized transactions involving cards issued within Russia amounted to RUB 1.384 billion in 2018, up 44% on the year 2017, when the figure was RUB 961.3 million. The number of such transitions also went up by 31.4% and came to 416,900. This amounted to 0.0018% of all the credit/debit card transactions last year (compared with 0.0016% in 2017). This

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, February 19, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) expert committees looked into 5,792 improvement proposals submitted by workers last year; 3,872 proposals (66.8%) got accepted as expedient and were scheduled for introduction. Most of these proposals have to do with job safety, industrial safety, energy efficiency, and resource saving. According to MMK’s Information & PR Department, the company went through with 2,579 proposals last year and saved RUB 453.6 million. The plant’s Blast Furnace Department saved the most: RUB 124.1 million. The Heavy Plate

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 19, 2019. Sovcombank is going to finance Rosatom Corporation’s project on upgrading water supply and sewage infrastructure in Lesnoy, Sverdlovsk Region, Rusatom Infrastructure Solutions LLC’ press service reports. The papers to this effect got signed by Rosatom Corporation, Rusatom Infrastructure Solutions-Lesnoy (Rosatom Corporation’s member enterprise), and Sovcombank at Russian Investment Forum in Sochi on February 15, 2019. Lesnoy’s water supply and sewage infrastructure got built back in the sixties to the eighties and has grown quite old. Rusatom

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 19, 2019. EVRAZ Consolidated West-Siberian Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ ZSMK) Testing Center got its rail-testing license renewed by Russia’s Federal Accreditation Service; this means the plant can now carry out all kinds of certification tests on its own site, with the exception of bench trials and field tests. According to the company’s press service, they can keep on testing the rails for geometrical dimensions, surface quality, alignment, chemical composition, mechanical properties, macro- and microstructure, and residual stress in the rail web. EVRAZ ZSMK also