Page 8 - bne_Magazine_October_2017

8 I The Month That Was bne October 2017
Business
Central Europe
Car sales in Poland achieved the strongest growth ever recorded in August by the country since the start of the 21st century. The number of new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) registered in Poland grew 16.35% y/y in August, market monitoring firm Samar said.
Slovakia is worried it could be caught up in a looming Christmas butter shortage crisis. A 125-gramme pack of butter in Slovakia cost €1.01 on average in June, up one-fifth from June 2016's €0.84, Slovak Statistics Office data shows. In the Czech Republic, butter shortages are already apparent.
New passenger car registrations saw strong year on year August surges in most CEE countries in the European Automobile Manufacturers Associa- tion’s (ACEA’s) new EU member states category. Only Latvia and the Czech Republic failed to make the double digits during the eighth month when it came to putting new cars on the roads.
Southeast Europe
July with recorded exports of €600.4mn. This was despite a three-week strike at the Fiat plant, which only ended when PM Ana Brnabic stepped in.
Eastern Europe
Russia will become the world’s second largest producer of gold after China following after gold mining company Polyus' launch of a new mining and smelting facility at Natalka in the Magadan region in Russia’s Far East. Polyus also controls Sukhoi Log, Russia’s largest gold deposit.
Russia's e-commerce market grew by 22% year-on-year to RUB498bn ($8.6bn) in January-June 2017, the Russian Post and the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AITC) said.
The maker of Belarus’ monster mining trucks MAZ will commission a plant
in Vietnam before the end of this year, the company said on August 12. The plant will be a joint venture between MAZ and the local government and known as MAZ Asia.
Eurasia
British renewable energy inves-
tor Quercus is to invest more than €500mn in a 600MW solar plant in Central Iran. It will have full responsi- bility for construction, development and operation. Iran’s current solar capacity stands at 53MW.
Securing a “war dividend”, Iran agreed deals with Damascus to
repair war-torn Syria’s power grid. The contracts will be worth hundreds
of millions of euros. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards already have a deal to build
a new mobile phone system for Syria and have won Syrian concessions involving farming land, oil and gas and phosphate mining.
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Bulgaria and Romania will most likely build a third bridge over the Danube River soon, according to Bulgaria’s Regional Development and Public Works Minister Nikolay Nankov. The neigh- bouring countries have said they want
to build as many bridges as possible over the Danube, hoping to increase the flow of investment in poverty-stricken areas.
German car parts manufacturer MAHLE plans to expand its produc- tion capacity in Bulgaria, making the country one of its main production centres. MAHLE aims to increase the number of its employees in Bulgaria to 600 from the current 400 over the next few years.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles remained Serbia’s largest exporter in January-