Russia's consumer prices rose 0.1 percent in the week to May 5 after staying flat in the preceding week, the State Statistics Service said Friday. This takes the cumulative increase in prices since the start of the year to 1.9 percent, compared with 4.3 percent...

Consumer prices were unchanged in the week to April 28, after rising 0.1 percent for four consecutive weeks, the State Statistics Service said. This keeps the cumulative increase in prices since the start of the year at 1.8 percent, compared with 4.2...

... sustain on a humanity-wide scale, according to the World Wildlife Fund. WWF's Living Planet report was released Tuesday, ahead of the UN's Rio +20 summit on sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June. It warns that the world is currently consuming resources 50 percent faster than they can be replaced — and that figure is rising. The biannual report, produced in association with the Zoological Society of London and the Global Footprint Network, ranked countries on two indexes: their...

Russia's consumer prices rose 0.1 percent in the week to May 21, the same pace as in the two preceding weeks, the State Statistics Service said Wednesday. This brings the cumulative rise in the consumer price index since the start of the year to 2.1 percent compared...

... shares up more than 3 percent. Carlsberg failed to meet first-quarter profit forecasts after the Russian market was hit by beer tax hikes but reiterated that it expected the market to return to modest growth this year after a 3 percent decline in 2011 as consumers who stocked up ahead of the tax rises get buying again. The brewer's Russian market share by volume rose to 37 percent in the first quarter from 36.8 percent in the previous period. The Russian beer market earns the Copenhagen-based group nearly...

... country’s biggest social network, Vk.com, took third, with 16.2 million users each day. The gap between the total daily TV audience and the number of daily Internet users was also narrow: 31.4 million of those preferring TV compared with 30.5 million consuming information online, TNS Russia said in e-mailed comments. “It’s not the limit yet. We are likely to see even more TV viewers moving to the Internet,” said Konstantin Chernyshyov, an analyst at UralSib Capital. Channel One has...

... more attractive to potential investors, there will be more entrants into the market, and construction costs will fall. So what are the prospects for the Russian market over the next few years? The spending power and confidence of investors and everyday consumers will ultimately decide. If mortgages become more accessible and consumer incomes do not decrease, demand for apartments will certainly increase. If shop owners see consumers maintaining their spending patterns, the growth in the number of rentals...

... to start it when he test-drove it. The decline in the national car industry is all the more galling for domestic producers as Russia is on track to become Europe's biggest car market by the end of the decade, driven by rising incomes and a surge in consumer spending. Car sales are expected to grow by about 6 percent this year to 2.8 million vehicles and reach 4 million by 2015. Renault, General Motors and Ford are among global players in the early stages of expanding sites or moving into those owned...

... of commercial activities is permitted, even if the underlying agreement restricts or prohibits such an assignment. Factoring The claims that may be transferred under factoring agreements include any monetary claims (including claims under loan and consumer loan agreements). A new requirement is introduced for the factoring agreements insofar as they must now provide for additional services relating to the trade receivables, which may limit the ability of factoring businesses to refinance in structured...

... current law on advertising to ban TV ads about drugs and abortions, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported. The deputies explained that they oppose the ads because they are used only for the financial gain of drug sellers and manufacturers rather than to inform consumers. "I am confident that public opinion in the matter is entirely on our side. Any ban on advertising 'clears the air,'" Lebedev wrote in a note attached to the bill. "As for drugs, their choice should not be determined by conscious...

... than drinks and snacks, he said. "They acted in an area that was then strategic," Yasin told The Moscow Times on the sidelines of the event. "People could have done without Coke. It would have been difficult to do without soap." Consumers reacted positively to P&G brands when sales began in 1989, Pepper wrote in the book. Local competition was of poor quality, he recalled. "Toothpaste was gritty and didn't contain fluoride. Almost 50 percent of the population reported a...

... measure, Dvorkovich said, RIA-Novosti reported. The announcement comes after Medvedev said at an April 10 government meeting that he would order the Communications and Press Ministry and Prosecutor General’s Office to study the possibility of consumers keeping their phone number as they switch from one mobile operator to another, a practice known as number portability. Federal officials have said such a policy would be simple. Federal Anti-Monopoly Service chief Igor Artemyev said at the April...

... businesses. "The perception is that the British are more democratic and, particularly the Scots, more underdog — so it's easier to get smaller companies involved," he said. Thompson also believes that growth in Russia is concentrated in the consumer market and its dynamism is all the more impressive because it occurs in the absence of strong government support — unlike the energy sector. "You can't ignore the consumer growth that's been going on," he said. "It is so much...

Scartel (better known to the consumer under the brand name Yota) is the only Russian company that boasts the frequency LTE (4G), and today one of the most desirable pieces on the telecommunications market. The future of this industry depends on how quickly the company is swooped...

... dominated their respective markets. It is estimated that more than 1,800 of these firms disappeared in consolidations, many of which acquired substantial shares of the markets in which they operated. There is a similar process going on in Russia's consumer sector. Russian consumption is $500 billion per year, yet the market cap of the Russian consumer sector public companies is only $30 billion, meaning there is significant room for non-organic consolidation. The experience of Russian companies...

The government approved new rules for the retail electricity market, Vladimir Putin said at a meeting devoted to the issue, Interfax reported Friday. The new rules, Putin said, "govern relations between suppliers and consumers of electricity and contain several major innovations." The new rules introduce fines of three times the cost of electricity for unmetered consumption and lift restrictions when changing suppliers. "We need real steps to improve competition...

The Investigative Committee is conducting a search at the Moscow office of consumer electronics and household appliances retailer Eldorado as part of an inquiry into claims of large-scale tax evasion, Interfax reported Tuesday, citing committee spokesman Vladimir Markin. The committee's St. Petersburg branch has accused the...

... strong, the market prospects for the second half of 2012 are still hard to predict," the company said in a statement. The company, majority owned by state monopoly Russian Railways, transports goods for a wide range of industries, including autos, consumer goods, metals and paper across Russia's vast rail network. (Reuters)

... refinery after starting industrial production of crude. "The most important thing is that this oil is processed here, so that we will have gasoline, diesel, fuel oil," he said. Kyrgyzstan produces only about 11 percent of the oil and gas it consumes and depends on Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan for other refined products. Kyrgyzstan's state geology agency estimates the country has the potential to hold 765 million to 1.36 billion tons of hydrocarbon reserves. It estimates reserves within...

... a report that the Arabian kingdom has become the world's biggest producer. Data from an Energy Ministry presentation follow a report published over the weekend by the Joint Organizations Data Initiative, or JODI, a group set up by oil producers and consumers, showing a sharp drop in Russian output. JODI data showed Russian production fell from 10.370 million barrels per day in December to 9.920 million in March, marginally less than Saudi Arabia's 9.923 million bpd that month. But the Energy Ministry's...