NEWS FROM RUSSIA: Concerning TRANSPORT & AUTOMOBILE/ CONSUMER GOODS & RETAIL: - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a ruling to subsidize research and development works in machine building from the federal budget. “The decision will ensure lower dependency of Russian strategic companies in the machine building and defense sectors from supplies of foreign machine building equipment, and also will ensure technical re-equipment and upgrade of technologies used in Russian machinery building,” the government said. The goal of the ruling, prepared by the Industry and Trade Ministry, is to establish modern production of domestic machines. - Russian car imports fell 20 % to 537,900 vehicles in January–September and were worth U.S. $10.46 billion, a 18 % decrease, the Federal Customs Service said. - Pobeda, a new low-cost affiliate of Russian airline Aeroflot, can start ticket sales on Tuesday after it has received an air operator certificate and air transport license from the Federal Air Transport Agency, Aeroflot said. The new airline will carry daily flights from Moscow to Volgograd, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Perm, Tyumen and Belgorod. - Germany’s Siemens considers viable to raise the localization of its manufacturing in Russia to protect itself from the ruble volatility. Moller said that the localization of Desiro trains production may be increased to 70 %–80 % in 2015 from 62 % currently. Siemens will invest 60 million euros to extend the capacity of its rail car depot which provides services for Sapsan and Desiro trains, he said. The launch of the upgraded depot is scheduled for late 2015. - Ruselectronics holding, part of state-owned industrial corporation Rostec, has signed a cooperation agreement with China Electronics Technology Corporation International (CETCI) to equip domestic civil and military airports. The goal of the partnership is a gradual substitution of imported European equipment in Russian airports. - General Motors (GM) will start producing Cadillac Escalade and Chevrolet Tahoe off-roaders at its plant in St. Petersburg in early 2015, Cadillac and Chevrolet representative offices in Russia. - A consortium between Russia’s VTB Capital and France’s Vinci will invest up to 76.48 billion rubles in the repairs of a road between Moscow and St. Petersburg. The repairs will start in 2015 and finish in 2018. - A high-speed railroad between Moscow and Beijing will cost about 7 trillion rubles, Russian Railways’ First Vice President Alexander Misharin said. “The total amount is about 7 trillion rubles, almost 4 trillion rubles on the Chinese side,” Misharin said. Russia is also in talks with China to raise 400 billion ruble investments for construction of the Moscow–Kazan high-speed railroad which will become a part of the road to China, he said. - The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has attracted an Arab sovereign fund for cooperation in the construction of Moscow’s Central Ring Road. Mubadala, a fund of United Arab Emirates, earlier said it will participate in several Russian large infrastructure projects jointly with the RDIF, including the construction of the Central Ring Road. - Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry has placed a 8.051 billion ruble order to start producing cars on a high-security platform Kortezh originally developed to transport high-ranking officials at a state purchase tender Web site. The works must be complete before 2017. Car producer Sollers was earlier appointed to produce Kortezh off-roaders. The government has not yet chosen the producers for sedan and minivan cars in the Kortezh series. ZIL, Kamaz, GAZ, and Volkswagen are among the main competitors. - Volvo Group has opened a 90 million euro truck cabin plant in Russia’s Kaluga Region. Under the localization scenario, the company plans to produce 45 % of component parts for their trucks in Russia. - About 30 ship building companies have signed an agreement to establish an industrial cluster in the Kaliningrad Region by 2017, Yantar Baltic Shipbuilding plant, the initiator of the project, said. The companies included not only Russian, but also Italian and Spanish ship builders. Sweden and French companies expressed their interest in the project during the conference. Investors can participate in the cluster only through the establishment of joint ventures with Russian firms registered in the region, Yantar’s Deputy CEO Sergei Posledov said. CONSUMER GOODS & RETAIL - Indian telecom operator Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL), a unit of Russian multi-industry holding AFK Sistema, will shortly enter the PC-based online video gaming business to boost the youth connect of its MTS brand and push its India revenue from data services to over 50 % from over 38 % now. - The Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Oversight has asked Interpol for information to uncover a large-scale scheme of food smuggling to Russia, which violates a ban imposed by the country on European food supplies, the service said in a statement. Particularly, the service requested data for investigation of 7,500 tonnes of pork smuggling from the E.U. via Kazakhstan. - Russia has successfully substituted pork imports from the countries barred from food supplies to the country through increase of imports from Brazil and China. In August, Russia banned imports of beef, pork, poultry, fish, cheese, dairy products, fruit and vegetables from Australia, Canada, Norway, the U.S. and the E.U. or one year to retaliate Western sanctions. Earlier in November, Russia’s veterinary and phytosanitary watchdog imposed an additional ban on pork imports from Canada due to the presence of growth stimulant ractopamine, prohibited in the Customs Union, in the supplies. - Lebanese confectionery producer Patchi Industrial is considering creating chocolate production in Russia in the midland long-term. The company also plans to open retail stores and a wholesale logistics center in Russia. Patchi Industrial has own production and a chain of 112 stores in 35 countries. - Russia will change the current threshold of 1,000 euros a month for duty free Internet trade after consultations with its Customs Union’s partners, Belarus and Kazakhstan. - The Russian food import ban has not hurt financial and operational performance of large food retail chains X5 Retail Group and Lenta, as they have substituted banned imports on time, but inflation poses an additional risk for companies. Russian food inflation speeded up to 11 % as of September 2014 and the Economic Development Ministry increased its annual inflation estimate to 12–13 % from 7.5 %. - The net profit of Russian retailer Dixy more than doubled to 3.2 billion rubles in January–September from about 1.3 billion rubles in the same period of 2013. The company opened 269 stores on net basis in January–September, thus expanding its total chain to 2,068 stores as of September 30. dixy.ru/sites/default/files/news/dixy_group_ifrs_3q2014_eng.pdf - Russia’s Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Oversight Service has asked the Customs Union to introduce a notion of fake transit into their legislation to prevent illegal imports of E.U. food from Belarus and Kazakhstan, Director Sergei Dankvert told. - France’s ELLE Time&Jewelry plans to invest 1.15 billion rubles in the opening of 300 jewelry outlets in the next five years in Russia. It already has 20 outlets in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, in the Rostov and Krasnodar regions. - Belorussian imports of goods that Russia has prohibited have grown by 80 % to 354,600 tonnes since August when Moscow introduced the import ban on Western food. Belorussian dairy imports from Lithuania grew to 150 tonnes from 10 tonnes in the period. Norway’s fish exports to Belarus grew by 100 % to 6,500 tonnes. Poland’s apple supplies to Belarus rose to 11,430 tonnes in October from 3,580 tonnes. - U.S. company Walt Disney may decrease or even abandon investment in Russian mass media in the wake of a recent law on foreign interest in mass media, which restricted it o 20 %, the company said. via AWEX
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 10:27:41 +0000