Econ Good News 23 June 03

various | 23 June | misc

[RussianConservative]

Wage Arrears Fall

MOSCOW (MT) -- Wage arrears fell 3.3 percent to 31.79 billion rubles ($1.05 billion) from January to May, the State Statistics Committee said Friday.

Arrears in wages due from federal and regional levels of government fell faster than those due from the private sector, reflecting a steady and broad-based improvement in public finances.

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Price Index Down

MOSCOW (Reuters) -- The producer price index fell 0.2 percent month on month in May after a 1.4 percent rise in April, the State Statistics Committee said Friday.

Producer prices rose 4.4 percent in the first five months of 2003 year on year, the committee said, compared with a 4.5 percent rise in the same period last year.

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$19.3Bln Trade Surplus

MOSCOW (Prime-Tass) -- The foreign trade surplus from January to April amounted to $19.324 billion, the State Statistics Committee said Friday.

From January to April of last year, the foreign trade surplus was $13.52 billion. Imports increased 20.1 percent on the year to $20.99 billion from January to April, while exports rose 30.1 percent on the year to $40.31 billion, the committee said.

The total foreign trade turnover from January to April stood at $61.3 billion, posting a 26.5 percent increase on the year.

Tyson Shopping Trip

MOSCOW (MT) -- Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest producer of beef, pork and chicken, is considering the acquisition of one or more Russian poultry farms, Dow Jones reported Friday.

Tyson management has toured facilities owned by Agros, a holding company belonging to Vladimir Potanin's Interros group, and Cherkizovsky, an independent company considering an initial public offering.

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Meat, Dairy Up 8.4%

MOSCOW (Prime-Tass) -- The dairy and meat-processing sector posted an 8.4 percent annual increase in January to May output, the State Statistics Committee said Saturday.

The sector continues to post one of the highest increases in the domestic food industry, whose overall production in the first four months of the year was up 4.7 percent.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The number of unemployed was 6.17 million people, or 8.7 percent of the workforce, at the end of May, down from 6.3 million in April, the State Statistics Committee said. (Reuters)

Plurigas, a joint venture of northern Italian municipal utilities, is close to a preliminary agreement with Gazprom to supply from 2 billion to 3 billion cubic meters of gas per year. (Reuters)

The State Duma approved a bill in its third reading Saturday to cancel the system of monitoring individuals' major spending on real estate, vehicles, securities, articles of cultural importance and gold bars. (Prime-Tass)

Moscow will host a world tea festival in September to boost stagnant tea consumption, which hovers around an annual 150,000 metric tons. (Reuters)