Russia’s major industrial giants — from cement, automotive, and metal producers to railways and the coal sector — are being forced to send employees on unpaid leave or switch to shorter workweeks amid an economic slowdown, falling domestic demand, and shrinking exports, Reuters reports.
At least six major companies in Russia’s mining and transport sectors have reduced the length of the workweek in an effort to cut payroll expenses without officially increasing unemployment.
The country’s largest cement producer, Cemros, has introduced a four-day workweek until the end of the year due to a sharp drop in construction activity and rising imports of cement from China, Iran, and Belarus.
“This is a necessary anti-crisis measure. The goal is to preserve all staff,” said company representative Sergei Koshkin.
Cement consumption in Russia is expected to fall below 60 million tons this year, returning to levels seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Russian automotive giants GAZ, KamAZ, and AvtoVAZ have also switched to shortened work schedules, while the state railway monopoly RZD is urging employees to take additional unpaid days off.
In mining regions such as Kuzbass, dozens of coal mines have already shut down, leaving thousands of miners jobless.
The world’s largest diamond producer, Alrosa, has cut its workforce by 10% and halted operations at less profitable deposits.
Russia’s metallurgical industry is also struggling. Despite being the fifth-largest steel producer in the world, the government is reportedly considering a moratorium on bankruptcies in the sector.
Due to high interest rates, a strong ruble, and weak demand, many companies are trimming support staff while preparing to adopt shorter workweeks to avoid mass layoffs.
The wood-processing industry has likewise been hit: Sveza, a major plywood producer, closed its Tyumen plant amid falling furniture demand, resulting in over 300 job losses.
According to analysts, Russia’s civilian industries have contracted by 5.4% since the beginning of the year, and GDP growth in 2025 could fall to just 1%.
Kazakhstan’s Kondensat Oil Refinery exported its first shipment of gasoline to Russia in July. The deliveries come amid a gasoline shortage on the Russian domestic market, caused by unplanned maintenance at several oil refineries following intensified Ukrainian drone attacks. According to reports, approximately 1,000 metric tons of gasoline produced at the Kondensat refinery were shipped […]
Apple has once again become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, surpassing NVIDIA in market capitalization, Reuters reports. This marks the first time since April 2025 that the iPhone maker has regained the top position. During trading on Friday, Apple shares continued to rise, bringing the company’s market capitalization to $4.88 trillion by the […]
Honda has officially confirmed that it will discontinue sales of the Honda Prologue electric crossover in the United States after the 2026 model year. In a statement to CarBuzz, the automaker said that sales of the Prologue will end later this year. The Honda Prologue was developed in partnership with General Motors and is built […]
Iraq has begun actively using Syria as an alternative route for exporting petroleum products in an effort to reduce its dependence on the Strait of Hormuz amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, Bloomberg reports. In recent months, Syria has transformed from a minor market participant into one of the region’s key export hubs. The […]
Non-resident companies providing electronic services to Ukrainian consumers paid a total of €82.4 million and $106.7 million in value-added tax (VAT) to Ukraine’s state budget during the first half of 2026, according to Lesia Karnaukh, Acting Head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, in a Facebook post. According to Karnaukh, the total amounts to […]
Ukrzaliznytsia has announced the launch of an additional Intercity+ high-speed train, No. 755/756 Kyiv–Lutsk, which will operate on July 25 and 26, the company said. The special service has been introduced to coincide with the Frontera International Literary Festival, for which Ukrzaliznytsia is serving as the official logistics partner. The train will depart Kyiv at […]
Croatia plans to expand the capacity of its only liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, a move that could enable Ukraine to receive larger volumes of gas from the European market. The plans were outlined by Ivan Fugas, CEO of the state-owned company LNG Croatia, in an interview with Bloomberg. According to Fugas, the company […]
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a decree enacting a decision by the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) to amend the sectoral sanctions imposed on Russian financial institutions, according to the Office of the President. The original sanctions were introduced by an NSDC decision in February 2023. They imposed 50-year restrictions on all banks, non-bank […]
South Korean company Sphere Corporation, a supplier of specialized aerospace alloys, has signed a contract with SpaceX to supply materials worth $1 billion. According to a stock exchange filing, the agreement was signed on July 31 and will remain in effect until the end of 2035. Sphere will supply nickel alloys and superalloys used in […]
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Sales growth for Volvo Cars in the first quarter of 2021 was 40.8% compared to the same period last year. He became the best in the history of the Swedish automaker. Total sales for this period reached 185,698 cars, compared to 131,889 cars for the same period last year. Compared to the first quarter of […]
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At the annual press conference as part of “Architecture Day 2020”, Intel has announced improvements in the production of new graphics processors for laptops, PCs and server processors. Positive news was received in not the best time for the company Intel, since July 23, after the close of Thursday, shares fell by more than 20%, […]
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On Thursday, January 19 it was a press conference with the top management of the company WOG. As we have noted in the previous news, its top management discussed topical issues on the development and expansion of its business in the current year. One of the points of the plan for the improvement of the […]
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With the “right steps,” Ukraine’s GDP could surpass Russia’s over the next decade. This was stated by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an interview with Fox News. According to him, the United States wants Ukraine’s economy not only to recover after the war but to “begin to actively prosper.” Rubio emphasized that this […]
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In the first half of the year, the National Bank suffered UAH 12 billion in losses, according to the central bank’s press service. In this regard, next year, according to the forecast, the NBU will transfer to the budget UAH 13.6 billion, which is 1.8 times less than this year (UAH 24.4 billion). It is […]
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On October 20, the Kyiv Art Gallery Tsekh hosted a presentation of the «Keep It Up!» project created by the artist and sculptor Yevgeny Petrov. The LDaily Business Edition became a media partner of this wonderful project, which highlights the theme of sport. The exhibition is currently open to the public and will be exhibited in the gallery until […]
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According to the State Statistics Service, as of January 1, 2017, there are 15 206 join-stock companies registered in Ukraine, 3 122 of which are the public companies. Although the Ukrainian independence celebrates its 25- year anniversary already, only recently the national business has started to review the governance system and the system of effective […]
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The position of the richest man in the world, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos reached $ 199.7 billion, which is a record for a businessman. This was reported on Wednesday by Forbes magazine. The publication noted that during the trading of Amazon shares on Tuesday, the state of Bezos even exceeded the mark of $ 200 […]
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According to Interfax-Ukraine, the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine (SFGCU) will initiate a rate decrease. The Eximbank of China issued the credit to the corporation under Ukraine state guarantees in the amount of 1,5 milliard dollars in 2012. Oleksandr Hryhorovych, the acting CEO of SFGCU said: “We work on the very important issue. […]
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Johnson & Johnson was one of the first companies to devote large resources to the fight against COVID-19 and vaccine development, and was one of the first to receive support from the US government. However, J&J is not currently one of the companies, who conducting clinical trials of its final vaccine candidates COVID-19 in humans. […]
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Budapest has agreed to support the European Union’s ban on imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), EUObserver reported, citing its sources. According to the outlet, Hungary has changed its previous position and now backs the proposal to prohibit Russian LNG supplies to Europe. At present, the main obstacles to adopting the EU’s 19th sanctions […]
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In August 2025, Kazakhstan delivered 190,000 tons of oil to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline system, an 18.7% increase compared to July, KazTransOil reported. “In August, KazTransOil JSC transferred 190,000 tons of Kazakh oil into the Transneft trunk pipeline system through the Adamova Zastava delivery point for further supply to Germany,” the company said in […]
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The American corporation Google, following other American companies Twitter and Facebook, suspended data requests from the Hong Kong authorities after the new Chinese law entered into force on this autonomous territory. “Last Wednesday when the law went into effect, we suspended any new data requests from the Hong Kong authorities. We will continue to study […]
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The state owned enterprise Artemsol plans to open logistics centers in Europe, which will give an opportunity to take new markets and increase the volume of sales of products, says the press-service of the enterprise. “We plan to open logistics centers in Ukraine and in Europe. This will solve the problem of deiveries from the […]
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A staff lawyer or a freelance consultant? This question was asked by many businesses, if not by all. And any of the control of management found both pluses and minuses of each option. Some people prefer in-house lawyers (corporate – in house), because they know the situation “from within”, while others are trying to involve […]
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