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8 I The Month That Was bne November 2017
Business
Eastern Europe
Russia has brought in the biggest harvest in the last 100 years; 132mn tonnes of grain has been brought in so far in 2017, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on October 19 as cited by Interfax. This already beats the previous estimate of 127mn tonnes and is well ahead of last year’s bumper 120.7mn tonnes, and only just behind the Soviet all time high of 133mn tonnes set in the 70’s.
Nestle will invest CHF30mn ($30.8mn) in the first infant formula plant in Rus- sia, the global food major said on October 12. Nestle said last year that its company already sources 90% of its food inputs in Russia for the food it sells in the country.
Ukraine brought in 26.6mn tonnes of grain, a good harvest on a par with last year’s, according to a report by the US Department of Agriculture ($A), which is similar to 2016 output. Exports of grain are up 15% y/y.
Central Europe
Hungary’s tourism industry closed a strong summer season with the number of nights spent by international tourists rising 3.8% in August and hotel room rev- enues in Budapest up 21% y/y. The figures come after the best year ever in 2016,
as Hungary becomes one of the fastest growing tourism markets in Europe.
UK retail giant Tesco PLC is reportedly considering selling its Central European subsidiaries if unions stick with demands for further wage hikes. The hypermarket chain is engaged in a cost-cutting drive following an accounting scandal in 2014.
Carmaker Jaguar Land Rover Slovakia launched a recruitment campaign
as all the manufacturers in Central Europe try to cope with a lack of labour problem. The company is offering 1,000 jobs at its new Nitra plant, which should be operational by end 2018.
Southeast Europe
Production of the Ford EcoSport small SUV at Ford’s plant in Romania started on October 12. The decision to build the new EcoSport in Europe rather than con- tinue to import the vehicle from Ford’s plant in Chennai, India, will help Ford respond to rising customer demand.
A Chinese-funded industrial park near the Serbian capital will provide space for over 1,000 high-tech compa- nies. There are hopes the park, which will receive finance from three major Chinese banks, will turn Serbia into the innovation and technology leader for Southeast Europe.
Eurasia
The Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alli- ance pledged to stay in Iran even if Washington re-imposes substantial sanc- tions against the country. Renault has seen a resurgence in sales in the Islamic Republic since relaunching in 2016.
Turkmenistan is to invest TMT159bn (€38.9bn) over seven years to get more out of the country’s hydrocar- bons sector. The sector accounts for around 90% of the country's exports but has been hit by the oil price slump.
Uzbekistan is to launch a $92mn textile plant in late 2018. It intends to process all of its cotton domestically by 2020, over 3mn tonnes of raw cotton and 1mn tonnes of cotton
fibre annually. In 2016, Uzbekistan processed 40% of all cotton produced domestically, compared to only 7%
a quarter-century ago.
Uzbekistan cut its excise tax rate on new cars imported from Kazakhstan to 2% of the customs value. The Kazakh Car Industry Union had complained that Kazakh car imports into Uzbekistan faced discrimination in contrast to Rus- sian and Ukrainian car imports.
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