Posted on 06/19/2003 6:54:35 AM PDT by RussianConservative
Industry Grows 8.5%
MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Industrial output rose 8.5 percent year on year in May but fell 0.4 percent compared to April, the State Statistics Committee said Wednesday.
Industrial output rose 6.7 percent in the January-May period compared to a 3 percent rise in the first five months of 2002, a committee statement said.
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Goodyear Rolls In
MOSCOW (MT) -- U.S. tire and rubber giant Goodyear is in talks to possibly acquire leading Russian tire producer Amtel, RBC reported Wednesday.
Short of buying out Amtel, visiting Goodyear executives in Moscow are looking to at least set up joint production to produce goods under Goodyear's brand in Russia, the news agency said.
Amtel holds about 28 percent of the tire market in the Commonwealth of Independent States. The company has four tire plants and a total production capacity of nearly 14 billion tires a year, RBC said.
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VTB Stake for EBRD
ST. PETERSBURG (Reuters) -- The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said Wednesday that it would take a stake in state-owned Vneshtorgbank this year after completing an audit.
The deal is part of banking reform in Russia, under which the government wants to reduce its role in a banking sector still heavily dominated by state-run institutions.
"I hope the process will be done this year. It is hard to tell [whether it will happen] in October, November or December," Jean Lemierre, the EBRD president, told reporters at an investment conference.
"Due diligence will be finished this summer. There will be some questions about the price. It's normal."
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Belgian Drugs Deal
BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) -- Belgian drugs and chemicals company Solvay said Wednesday that it had signed a joint venture agreement to tap into the fast-growing market for PVC compounds in Russia.
The company said it had signed an agreement with Russian firm Nikos to produce PVC compounds, its first industrial activity in Russia in 85 years. Each company will hold 50 percent each in the joint venture, called Soligran.
It will begin operations from the fall and will produce more than 40,000 tons of PVC compounds annually within the next two years.
Soligran will operate two plants in Russia, one to be based in Tver, north of Moscow, and the other in Volgograd.
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EBRD $1Bln in '04?
MOSCOW (Prime-Tass) -- The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development may take part in Russian investment projects worth $1 billion next year, Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref told reporters Wednesday.
He was speaking after talks with EBRD president Jean Lemierre.
Gref listed projects like the development of the domestic transportation sector, the construction of a Sakhalin-Khabarovsk gas pipeline and EBRD's loan for a northern ferry link from Russia to Germany.
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Nidan Juice Factory
MOSCOW (MT) -- No. 4 juice producer Nidan Foods on Wednesday said it will open a $60 million juice-producing factory in the Moscow region on June 27 capable of producing 360 million liters a year, Dow Jones reported.
Nidan said it will install high-technology equipment including a research laboratory for quality control, the agency reported.
The Siberian firm operates two other juice plants and one dairy plant.
Nidan said it plans to grow further and gain market share. It wants to further develop its distribution chain and offer new brands.
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OECD Member by '06?
ST. PETERSBURG (Prime-Tass) -- Russia could become a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development within the next three years, OECD Secretary-General Donald Johnston said Wednesday.
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