Jan.
  2018
ISSUE
No. 150

  USRCC Business Newsletter
USRCC Activities



The USRCC's  Business Networking Event

On January 18, 2018 the U.S.-Russia Chamber of Commerce ("USRCC") hosted a Business Networking event  that drew a crowd of more than 50 business professionals. New connections were made at the  happy hour held at Arcodoro Restaurant, Houston TX.



We would like to thank our guests, members and volunteers for joining us at the USRCC's first event of 2018!

To view event pictures visit our  Facebook page

  USRCC Trade Mission to Russia
May 2018
 

The U.S.-Russia Chamber of Commerce (USRCC) invites you to participate in a Trade mission to the  St. Petersburg International Economic Forum . Participants will have an opportunity to meet Russian government officials and some of the most influential leaders in U.S.-Russia trade and investment relations. The USRCC will coordinate private meetings, an exclusive CEO Roundtable and introductions, in addition to attending the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPEIF).

Participating companies will gain market insights, make industry contacts, solidify business strategies, find business partners, and advance specific projects with the goal of increasing U.S. trade and investment to Russia.

For more details about the Trade Mission please contact us  directly at      

USRCC Internship
GET INVOLVED

The USRCC is looking for new team members!

Volunteers
 play a key role and the contributions they make impact the day-to-day functions of the chamber and shape the future of relationship between Russia and the U.S.

There are many ways you can get involved with the USRCC. Whether you are an experienced leader or a student, there is a place for you. By volunteering you can be at the very centre of our high-profile events held in Houston, Chicago and New York City and interact with influential leaders in the U.S.-Russia trade and investment.
USRCC Membership
Are you taking advantage of your  USRCC Member Benefits?

Renew your membership or join for the first time today!

For more information  click here 
Interested in learning more about our 2018 events? 

To see a full list   click here
Members' News
Lukoil to supply lubricants for China´s leading construction equipment manufacturer XCMG

Neftegaz.ru, January 18, 2018: Lukoil has signed on January 18, 2018, a contract with XCMG Russia, subsidiary of Chinese Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group (XCMG), on supply of service fill lubricants.  
Lukoil lubricants will be used for servicing of road and construction equipment as well as other special machinery manufactured by XCMG.  
The product range for XCMG includes Lukoil Avangarde Ultra motor oils, Lukoil TM and ATF transmission oils, Lukoil Geyser hydraulic oils, FLEX greases and auto chemicals.  Read more...
Russia's Gazprom plans to invest 182.4 bln roubles in TurkStream in 2018

Reuters.com, January 15, 2018: Russian gas giant Gazprom said on Monday it plans to invest 182.4 billion roubles ($3.2 billion) this year in the TurkStream pipeline project and another 114.5 billion roubles in Nord Stream 2.
Moscow, dependent on oil and gas revenues, sees the pipelines to Turkey and Germany - TurkStream and Nord Stream 2 - as crucial to increasing its market share in Europe. ($1 = 56.4875 roubles)   Read more...
This Week in Review 
Russia boosts goods import from non-CIS countries to $202.3 bln in 2017

Tass.com, January 15, 2018: MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. Russia increased imports of goods from non-CIS countries in 2017 by 24.3% year-on-year to $202.3 billion, the Federal Customs Service said on Monday.
Total imports of goods from non-CIS countries rose 11.3% month-on-month to $20.7 bln in December 2017.
Imports of textiles and footwear surged 27% in December 2017 to $1.1 bln. Imports of food products and raw materials for their production grew by 16.6% to $2.5 bln, products of engineering industry - by 12.3% to $11.3 bln. Imports of chemical products rose by 4.5%, to $3.5 bln, the report says.  Optional Link
Geologists report new promising platinum deposit in Russia's north

Tass.com, January 15, 2018: Specialists of the state-owned geology holding, Rosgeologiya, discovered in the Monchegorsk ore district (the Murmansk Region) promising nickel and platinum containing ores and recommend further studies there, the holding company's press service said.
"The prospecting work was done by the holding's branch in St. Petersburg's ("North-West PGO") under a contract with the North-West Federal District's Department of Mineral Resources."   Read more...
China may invest in Russian Transneft

Neftegaz.ru, January 15, 2018: China could become one of the major shareholders in Transneft, the state-backed oil pipeline company in Russia, one of its directors said on January 12, 2018.
Transneft 1st Vice President Maxim Grishanin said the Russian Direct Investment Fund was in talks to attract investors to the pipeline company.
«There are investors from Japan, we are waiting for Singapore and China,» he was quoted by Tass. «RDIF is holding talks with the Chinese.»
Russia has focused investment efforts toward the Asia-Pacific, which offers a buffer against a EU frustrated with the former Soviet Union's influence in the regional energy sector.
The 2010 launch of the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline in 2010 was described by Vladimir Putin as a strategic victory for a Russian energy sector looking to capitalize on Asianeconomy success.  Rear more...
Boom Times for Russia's Arctic Ports

Maritime-executive.com, January 18, 2018: Arctic seaports are booming as shipping on the Northern Sea Route reached new high last year. In 2017, a record 9.74 million tons of goods were transported along the route, with only 194,364 tons shipped to transit the route. Grain, oil and coal were major commodities shipped. 
Export of crude oil from Russia in 2017 increased by seven percent to 256.7 million tons. Coal exports increased four percent to 185.1 million tons. Much of the growth can be attributed to large industrial projects such as Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG 2 and oil shipments from new projects like Novy Port and the terminal at Varandey.  Read more...
South Korea Plans to Boost LNG Imports From Russia - Russian Far East Ministry

Sputniknews.com, January 19, 2018: VLADIVOSTOK (Sputnik) - South Korea plans to increase the supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia, the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East said, citing head of South Korea's Northern Economic Cooperation Committee Song Young-gil.
"We have agreed to develop cooperation not only in the field of aquaculture but also in other products and services, in particular, Korea plans to increase LNG supplies from Russia," Song said during a video conference with Minister for the Far East Development Alexander Galushka.  Read more...
Renault sales rose nearly 9% in 2017 on Russia, Brazil rebounds

Europe.autones.com, January 15, 2017: Renault reported an 8.5 percent rise in its global group sales for 2017 and said it expects more growth this year as it expands in overseas markets.
Sales rose to 3.76 million last year, with record sales levels for its Renault and Dacia brands, Renault said in a statement on Monday.
Sales of Renault brand cars and vans increased 7.4 percent to 2.67 million. Dacia sales jumped 12 percent to 655,235. Lada sales were up 17.8 percent to 335,564. Renault Samsung Motors sales in Korea fell 10 percent to 99,846 due to the "lack of new models in a fiercely competitive market," Renault said.  Read more...
Rosoboronexport: Russia to focus on "small and ultra-small submarine" exports

Navaltoday.com, January 17, 2018: Russia's defense industry agency Rosoboronexport will work with the country's largest shipbuilding company in 2018 to boost worldwide export prospects for what the agency termed as small and ultra-small submarines.
Rosoboronexport said this focus was in response to a growing interest for these vessels in the countries of Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.
The agency's lead industry partner will be the United Shipbuilding Corporation.  Read more...
Russia's Rosatom to receive $130 bln in foreign orders in 2018

Tass.com, January 16, 2018: Russia's state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom expects its ten-year foreign orders portfolio to exceed $130 bln in 2018, Chief Executive Officer Alexei Likhachev said Tuesday. 
In 2017, the company's ten-year foreign orders portfolio also surpassed $130 bln.
The nuclear corporation traditionally calculates its orders portfolio for a ten-year perspective. This year the supervisory board plans to discuss the initiative to extend this period.
"The idea is to obtain an approval from the supervisory board on shifting from a ten-year portfolio to an open-ended one," Likhachev said.
Meanwhile, the shift should not concern the company's new products, but may be used to calculate its foreign orders portfolio, he added. According to CEO, the shift from a ten-year principle for calculating foreign orders will encourage the corporation's international divisions to enter into "longer" contracts.
"This year we plan to shift to a wider planning perspective. This relates to the fact that several contracts are long-term, meaning service contracts and fuel contracts," he said.  Read more...
Russia's Arkhangelsk fleet to develop regional fishing industry

Undercurrentnews.com, January 15, 2018: Russia´s Arkhangelsk Trawl Fleet is to begin to develop the region's fishing industry, according to an agreement between the fleet´s investors and regional administration, Riafan reported.
The region´s governor Igor Orlov said that the relevant agreements were reached in late December at a meeting with the shareholders of the enterprise. 
"We are talking about confirming investment intentions, increasing processing volume, upgrading port facilities, building new vessels, developing the infrastructure for transshipping fish products from the Far East to Arkhangelsk and further transit to the central regions of Russia," said Orlov.  Read more...
Russia to direct over $1 billion to PD-35 engine development

Rusaviainsider.com, January 16, 2018: Russia's United Engine Corporation (UEC) will allocate 64.3 billion rubles ($1.13 billion) for R&D involved in the Aviadvigatel PD-35 engine program. This follows from information posted on the government's procurement website.
The PD-35 is intended for the joint Russo-Chinese widebody aircraft program, dubbed CR929.
The funding will be allocated to UEC-Aviadvigatel, the company obliged to complete the requisite work from December 25, 2017 through December 25, 2023. According to the contract, 1.8 billion rubles will be provided in 2018. The sum has been earmarked in the federal budget in the form of an increase in UEC's capital.  Read more...
Ford may export to Europe from Russia

Europe.autonews.com, January 19, 2018: Ford's Russian factories are busy now that the market is recovering but the company may still export vehicles to Europe from its local joint venture.
"Exports to Europe are definitely possible," said Adil Shirinov, CEO of Ford Sollers.
Increasing the number of export markets would be one way to improve the plants' viability and avoid future production shutdowns, he told Automotive News Europe.
Ford started shipping cars to former Soviet countries such as Belarus and Kazakhstan during the Russian market's prolonged slump, but it now wants to expand export destinations. "Unfortunately, these markets are not the biggest, but we are looking at outside as well," Shirinov said.
Ford's build quality in Russia is good enough to export cars to more mature markets such as Europe, Shirinov said, without giving examples of models.  Read more...
Arab investors interested in hotel business of Azerbaijan

Azernews.az, January 17, 2018: Arab investors show interest in the hotel business of Azerbaijan, mainly in the economy hotel segment, chairman of the Association of hotels and restaurants of the country Samir Dubendi.
However, no facts of buying hotels in Azerbaijan have been observed so far, according to the chairman of the association.
"We do not have information about the sale of Azerbaijani hotels to Arab investors, they are interested in this sector. Last year, we were approached by investors from Saudi Arabia, mainly interested in economy hotel segment - two and three star hotels. However, no agreement was reached for unknown reasons," Dubendi told Trend.
He stressed that at the moment no hotels owned by Arab investors have been registered in Azerbaijan.
  Read more...
2018 FIFA World Cup: over three million tickets requested as sales go on

Fifa.com, January 15, 2018: With 150 days left until the start of the biggest single-sport event in the world, the demand for 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ tickets keeps increasing - both from domestic and international football fans.
3,141,163 tickets have been requested since 5 December, with the current sales window lasting until 12:00 (Moscow time) on 31 January. Fans from all around the world have a unique opportunity to secure their places at FIFA's flagship tournament by applying for tickets online at FIFA.com/tickets. So far, most of the applications have come from Russia, with fans from Germany, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, USA, Spain, Poland and China representing the top ten countries from abroad. Overall, international demand accounts for 38 per cent.   Read more...
Italy, Russia getting ready for major exhibition exchanges

Tass.com, January 15, 2018: Italy and Russia are working to prepare a number of major exhibition exchanges within the joint working group on culture and tourism, Italian Deputy Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism Doria Bianchi told reporters at a news conference dedicated to the opening of the Russian Seasons festival in the Apennines.
On February 1, the working group, which is part of the Russian-Italian Council for Economic, Industrial and Monetary Cooperation, will hold its third meeting attended by Bianchi and Russian Deputy Minister of Culture, Alla Manilova, to discuss further steps related to bilateral cultural ties.  Read more...
IBM and Azerbaijan´s SOCAR announce a joint venture

Neftegaz.ru, January 15, 2018: SOCAR and IBM announced on January 15, 2018, establishment of a joint venture called Caspian Innovation Center for the purpose of building and operating a competitive analytics and delivery center to provide IT, business transformation and business consulting services in Azerbaijan, the Caspian Region and other countries.  
The SOCAR-IBM joint venture will offer its' services to SOCAR and other companies in the region, in order to facilitate digital business transformation and boost the efficiency of production in the energy industry and across sectors.  Read more...
US-Russia Related News in Russian
Новости членов Палаты
ExxonMobil идет на глубоководный шельф Ганы, планируя в 2018 г начать геологоразведку на месторождении DWCTP

Neftegaz.ru, 19 января, 2018: ExxonMobil заключила с Ганой соглашение о проведении геологоразведочных работ (ГРР) на месторождении Deepwater Cape Three Point (DWCTP) на шельфе страны.. 
Месторождение DWCTP расположено более чем в 90 км от побережья Ганы.
DWCTP - глубоководное месторождение, глубина моря в этом районе составляет от 2 тыс до 4 тыс м.
Это серьезно осложняет его разработку.
В связи с этим открытого тендера на разработку DWCTP не проводилось, ExxonMobil и Гана вели прямые переговоры.
Еще 1 важный момент - сделка с ExxonMobil стала 1й после того, как Международный трибунал по морскому праву в сентябре 2017 г передвинул морскую границу между Ганой в Кот д'Ивуаром в пользу Ганы.
Новости недели
ЭКСПОРТ ЗЕРНА ИЗ ПОРТОВ КРАСНОДАРСКОГО КРАЯ ВЫРОС НА 10 МЛН ТОНН В 2017 ГОДУ

Rusexporter.ru, 19 января, 2018: В 2017 году зерно из портов Краснодарского края было экспортировано в 65 государств.  За год за рубеж отправили 1429 судов с зерном и продуктами его переработки.
Экспорт зерна из портов Краснодарского края РФ (Новороссийск, Ейск, Темрюк, Кавказ и Тамань) составил 28,9 млн тонн, в частности пшеницы - свыше 32,4 млн тонн, сообщает территориальное управление Россельхознадзора по Краснодарскому краю и Республике Адыгея.
В 2016 году объем отгрузок зерновых из указанных портов составлял 21,35 млн тонн, экспорт пшеницы составлял 15,85 млн тонн.  Читать далее...
Продажи электромобилей в России в 2017 г. выросли на 28%

Metalinfo.ru, 19 января, 2018: Продажи новых электромобилей на российском рынке в 2017 г. выросли по сравнению с 2016 годом на 28,4%, до 74 штук.
Самой популярной маркой электромобиля в России в прошлом году стала Tesla - продано 62 электрокара. Продажи Tesla выросли в 2017 г. на 59%. Основные продажи пришлись на Model X (48 шт.) и Model S (14 шт.).
Российские клиенты также приобрели 29 электрокаров Nissan Leaf, 3 - Renault Twizy и один Mitsubishi i-MiEV.  Читать далее...
Минпромторг придумал, как увеличить экспорт автомобилей

Carclub.ru, 19 января, 2018: В Минпромторге предложили новый способ увеличить спрос на производимые в России автомобили в других странах. Как пишут «Ведомости», в ведомстве считают возможным субсидировать скидку в размере 50 000 рублей при сдаче старого автомобиля на утилизацию. Это следует из разработанного министерством проекта постановления правительства.
Предлагаемые условия для утилизируемых автомобилей - возраст не менее 10 лет, из которых последние три года машина должна находиться в пользовании получателя скидки. Правда, сам продаваемый автомобиль должен быть произведен «не позднее 1 октября 2017 года», говорится в документе.
Читать далее...
ЭКСПО 2025: В Сколково создадут концепцию города будущего

Kp.ru, 17 января, 2018: В Технопарке « Сколково» 27-28 января этого года состоится самый большой хакатон этого года - HACKATHON 2025. В рамках мероприятия талантливые разработчики смогут представить свои инновационные идеи для Города будущего в  Екатеринбурге.
Организатором мероприятия выступает заявочный комитет  ЭКСПО 2025, который продвигает заявку  России на проведение в Екатеринбурге в 2025 году Всемирной универсальной выставки ЭКСПО.  Читать далее...
ТОМСКОЕ МОРОЖЕНОЕ ПОЯВИТСЯ В КИТАЕ

Rusexporter.ru, 19 января, 2018: Томский производитель мороженого вышел на рынок Китая. Компания «33 пингвина» открыла представительство в Китае, начав освоение рынка с Шанхая.
В первую очередь, китайских партнеров заинтересовал натуральный состав мороженого, которое готовится только на основе настоящих сливок и цельного молока. Кроме того, в 2016 году томская компания выпустила линейку мороженого без сахара ORGANICbar, за которую получила российскую премию «Здоровое питание». В линейку входит мороженое с пониженной жирностью, с продуктами SuperFood, с пребиотиками, а также мороженое без лактозы на основе рисового, кокосового, кедрового молочка. Еще один важный факт - все продукты ORGANICbar имеют лицензию Российской диабетической ассоциации.  Читать далее...
"Транснефть" снизит прокачку на экспорт, но увеличит показатель по России

Teknoblog.ru, 12 января, 2018: В планах "Транснефти" направить на экспорт в 2018 году 226,8 млн тонн нефти. Этот показатель несколько ниже показателя прошлого года, когда было транспортировано на экспорт 233,8 млн тонн. Однако общая прокачка нефти по трубопроводной системе российского предприятия в 2018 году вырастет до 482,75 млн тонн, сообщил СМИ вице-президент нефтетранспортной компании Сергей Андронов.   Читать далее...
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The U.S.-Russia Chamber of Commerce (USRCC)  is  a 501(c)(6) no t for  profit  corporation with its headquarters  in Houston, Texas,  and offices in the Midwest and the Northeast. The USRCC  was established in 2009 to promote  trade and investment  between  the  Russia n Federation  and the U.S. A.  
The information contained in this newsletter is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice on any subject matter. USRCC does not accept any responsibility for any loss that may arise from reliance on information contained in this newsletter. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not reflect the opinions or views of the USRCC or its members.  Links within this newsletter lead to other websites, including those operated and maintained by third parties. The linked sites are not part of the USRCC newsletter. USRCC includes these links solely as a convenience to the newsletter subscribers, and the presence of such links does not imply a responsibility for the linked site and its operator. USRCC cannot certify the accuracy of the material provided by the original  source .