By John Helmer in Moscow Layoffs of between 2,000 and 4,000 workers on the payrolls of Evraz steelmills and mines in Russia are a violation of the agreement Evraz signed with worker and regional representatives in November, a union leader told CRU Steel News today. Lyudmila Zavzyalova, secretary of the Nizhny Tagil municipal authority, in […]

by John Helmer - Monday, March 2nd, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been reading his economic history. He knows that the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act (named after its sponsors, Congressman Willis Hawley and Senator Reed Smoot) was the American statute enacted on June 17, 1930, which raised US tariff barriers against more than 20,000 imported goods to record […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Noone, least of all Dmitry Pumpyansky, should be faulted for not anticipating exactly when the oil and gas bubble would burst. But what can be said of Pumpyansky’s calculation that he had at least two more years of defying gravity, and no hedge against the risk that he might be […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russian oligarchs are famously bad as bird-fanciers. As corporate takeover tacticians, when times were good, they were reluctant to share their premiums in buy-sell transactions. Not for them, the proverbial wisdom that what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Taking the latter bird’s position, they preferred […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow In a report issued this week, Troika Dialog, a Moscow investment bank, warns that a combination of operating financial risks, debt problems, and new coalmine costs will impact negatively on Mechel, the fifth-ranked Russian steelmaker and leading coking-coal producer. The report comes after last week’s trading on the Moscow stock […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Mechel, the fifth-ranked Russian steelmaker and leading coal miner, lost 2.6% from its New York-listed share price as the market failed to react positively to this week’s company’s release of nine-month financial results. The Mechel group’s market capitalization is currently $2 billion. It was twelve times larger, $24.4 billion, when […]

by John Helmer - Friday, December 19th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow A surprise board reshuffle announced on Wednesday by the Evraz group, Russia’s largest steelmaker, has triggered a sharp negative market reaction. It has fueled speculation that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the board of the state bailout bank, Vnesheconombank (VEB), are unhappy with the way in which Evraz has heavily […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, December 4th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow In a contest of bargaining power reminiscent of the 2005 battle between Alisher Usmanov of Metalloinvest and Victor Rashnikov, owner of Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine (MMK), MMK is demanding that Metalloinvest lower its iron-ore price, and is refusing to pay for previous deliveries. Metalloinvest says it has cut production at its […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russian state development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB), chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, is reported to have approved a US$1.8 billion loan for steel and mining giant Evraz Group, whose major shareholders include Roman Abramovich, following a board session of the board last Friday. Evraz sources decline to confirm the loan, […]

by John Helmer - Monday, November 24th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Leading Russian steel producer Evraz revealed its financial crisis management plan in Moscow on Thursday, although it claimed it will try to avoid cutting domestic jobs. Evraz said it will cut output for the second half of this year by 25%, compared to to the first half, in Russia and […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, November 2nd, 2008
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