Search Results for: Russia

BY MARK ROWE
RUSSIAN counterfeit goods manufacturers, who have traditionally regarded clothes and textile goods as prime and lucrative targets, have seen a six-fold fall in the number of goods they sell. The country’s State Customs Committee says Russia lost US$600 million last year in the sale of fake goods of all kinds, compared with US$1 billion in 1999.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE RUSSIAN timber company Ilim Pulp plans to build a US$50m timber processing plant in the northern Arkhangelsk region of the country, with a projected annual output of up to 700,000 cubic meters of processed timber annually. The company expects to prepare the construction project for the new plant and decide on an exact location by the end of the year.…

BY MARK ROWE
SIBNEFT, Russia’s sixth largest oil producer, has opened a subsidiary in St. Petersburg with the aim of seizing a significant share of the city’s retail-gasoline market. The move is also expected to enable Sibneft to use its refinery capacity to secure a larger stake in the local wholesale petroleum-products sector.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development is promoting on-site power generation in Russia, developing plans to lend a major potassium salt producer US$75 million, which it would use to build its own power plant. Located in the city of Berezniki, the Perm Region, in the Urals, OAO Uralkaly would use the new generator to make “improvements in energy efficiency and environmental compliance.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THERE has been a lot of talk about water in international meetings and organisations this year. Report after report has spelt out that we are all using too much water and if reforms do not make systems more sustainable, then a thirsty future beckons.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE PARIS-BASED perfume business Sephora is in talks to buy L’Etoile, Russia’s largest cosmetics chain. L’Etoile, which is based in Moscow, has 101 stores in the city and also owns outlets in St Petersburg. The company’s sales amounted to US$90 million last year.…

BY RICHARD HURST
THE SOUTH African Competition Commission has given the green light to the proposed merger between Harmony Gold and African Rainbow Minerals Gold (ARMgold). The deal includes the acquisition of all the issued share capital of ARMgold by Harmony; once finalised, the merged business will be the largest gold producing company in South Africa.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE REFORM of the world’s anti-money laundering campaign is continuing apace. Defying critics of its alliance with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the Financial Action Task Force of the OECD has issued a revised set of its key 40 Recommendations to fight the crime.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE BOARD of Russia’s Gazprom has approved the creation of an offshoot company that will participate in an US$18 billion West-East multinational joint venture helping to build a 4,000 kilometre trunk-line to pump gas across China, from west to east.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE RUSSIAN Tax Ministry has recommended the reintroduction of licensing for cigarette and tobacco wholesalers, which was abolished last year. Officials say the move would reduce the market share of low-quality cigarettes. The ministry also wants to start charging excise tax on cigarettes and tobacco at a rate based on the product’s maximum retail price instead of on the wholesale price.…