By John Helmer in Moscow The proverb that good things come to those who wait has recently been used to sell a brand of ale that takes a long time to pull into the glass. An older version makes the waiting less optimistical. “Wait, thou child of hope,” coined the 19th century aphorist, Martin Tupper, […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia tries cooling steel prices. The Russian government has postponed a decision on whether to impose export duties of up to 20% on steel products, despite a flurry of press and brokerage reports claiming the government’s senior industry minister has already promised not to levy new taxes. A meeting between […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russian specialty steelmaker spins off coal-mining and ferroalloy units to add value, deter asset attack. A series of new executive appointments, announced this week by Mechel, suggests that the group’s controlling shareholder, Igor Zyuzin, is preparing for the possible, much rumoured sale of the Mechel steel division to the state-owned […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Brokers put fingers in the dyke, as Kremlin takes fresh bite out of profit According to the tale of Hans Brinker, the brave little Dutch boy stuck his finger in the Haarlem dyke to save the Netherlands from being flooded. In truth, the tale was a 19th century American invention. […]

by John Helmer - Monday, May 26th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Market cuts $2 billion in capital value from Russian steelmaker as US acquisitions mount up. In a market of booming coal, coke, iron-ore and scrap prices, and still insatiable Chinese and Indian demand for steel, it stands to reason that the great vertically integrated Russian steelmaking groups, largely self-sufficient in […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow PR spin battles US recession to hype Russian steel deal Taylor Rafferty is an international public relations company which works for Alexei Mordashov, the controlling shareholder of Severstal, third ranked Russian steelmaker. Its job is to help Mordashov extricate his foot from his mouth, and his hand from public shareholder […]

by John Helmer - Monday, March 24th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russian environmental inspector to despatch bailiffs to halt Evraz steelmill for water pollution. Evraz, Russia’s largest steelmaker, is testing for the second time in two years the will of the Russian government to enforce environmental protection and water emission rules. At stake is the continued operation of the biggest rail […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, February 6th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s Evraz group cannot sell its Highveld assets but appears that it might be buying more Russian vanadium. The Evraz group, Russia’s largest steelmaker, has twice tried to corner the global market in ferroalloys, once in manganese, and once in vanadium. It has failed at both, obliged by stronger forces […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
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By John Helmer in Moscow Despite several rebuffs this year already, and problems faced by other non-Russian putative investors into the country’s steel sector, ArcelorMittal tries to set up new steel mill near Moscow. For the great Anglo-Indian families — I mean, wealthy Indians who live in London — it is galling to observe the […]

by John Helmer - Friday, December 21st, 2007
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By John Helmer in Moscow Yury Trutnev, the Russian minister in charge of Russia’s economic relations with South Africa, is visiting South Africa, Angola and Namibia this week, in anticipation of President Vladimir Putin’s visit currently scheduled for the first week of September. Among the meetings Trutnev has arranged, the ministry told Business Day, was […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 27th, 2006
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