By John Helmer in Moscow The dispute that has haunted Evraz’s operation of the Czech steelmill at Vitkovice since 2005 when the Russian group won a disputed privatization tender for the plant, has escalated this week into a threat of closure. It is the second time the Evraz management in Moscow has issued a closure […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, June 17th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow In cockfighting there is a hard and fast rule – if your bird won’t fight, no matter how hard you push it, you forfeit the contest, and bets on the other bird must be paid. When it comes to fighting and hiding, Alexei Mordashov, the Russian steelmaker, appears to have […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, June 8th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow The Evraz steel group, the large Russian steel group owned by Roman Abramovich and Alexander Abramov, is negotiating an undertaking to build a new steel rolling-mill in Kazakhstan, according to an announcement by the Kazakh deputy minister of industry, Berik Kamaliev.

by John Helmer - Monday, June 7th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow O dear! Noddy can’t make the loop the loop. After his last adventure in the jungles of northeastern Guinea, Noddy found that he still owed so much money to his bankers, he wasn’t allowed to make big-ticket plane rides without their permission.

by John Helmer - Friday, June 4th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow As Russian villagers used to say in olden times, when the tsar is kind, the wait to see him is long; when he is cruel, there is no delay at all. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s explicit attack on steel prices at the start of this week, and the commencement of […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday launched an orchestrated attack on steel prices and the profit margins of Russia’s steelmaking groups during a meeting with the head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), Igor Artemyev.

by John Helmer - Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has announced through the Interfax wire service that as part of the improving relationship between his government and that of the newly elected Ukrainian President, Victor Yanukovich, the Russian government is prepared to accept a current import quota for Ukrainian large diameter pipes (LDP) of […]

by Editor - Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow In a move that has drawn immediate skepticism in the Russian steel industry, Alexei Mordashov’s Severstal group has entered the bidding for the Ukraine’s fourth steel maker, Zaporizhstal, which is currently owned by four shareholders — Eduard Shifrin and Alex Schnaider of the Midland group; Igor Butler and Vitaly Satsky.

by Editor - Friday, April 16th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow A senior Russian industry ministry official has come to the defence of domestic steelmakers, warning that an attempt to roll back or penalize their recent price increases could lead to the ultimate bogeyman — a flood of cheap Chinese-made steel into the Russian market. Andrey Dementiev, a Deputy Minister of […]

by John Helmer - Friday, April 9th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has requested that the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) open an investigation of price rigging in the domestic sale of steel products. It is the first direct intervention by the prime minister against the profit-taking by oligarch-owned companies since August of 2008, when his last, if […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
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