Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09VLADIVOSTOK85
2009-08-10 05:14:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Vladivostok
Cable title:
CEMENT BUSINESS RECEIVES GENEROUS GOVERMENT SUBSIDIES
how-toVZCZCXRO8400 RR RUEHCHI RUEHDBU RUEHFK RUEHHM RUEHKSO RUEHLN RUEHNAG RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHYG DE RUEHVK #0085 2220514 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 100514Z AUG 09 FM AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK INFO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1181 RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE RUEHZU/ASIAN PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION COLLECTIVE RUEHVK/AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 1286
UNCLAS VLADIVOSTOK 000085
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON PGOV
SUBJECT: CEMENT BUSINESS RECEIVES GENEROUS GOVERMENT SUBSIDIES
UNCLAS VLADIVOSTOK 000085
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON PGOV
SUBJECT: CEMENT BUSINESS RECEIVES GENEROUS GOVERMENT SUBSIDIES
1. Summary: In the SpasskCement Co. Inc., the line between
public and private is blurred. Although the company is part of
the privately owned VostokCement LLC, SpasskCement has regularly
received financial assistance from the Primorskiy Krai
government, including over 560 million rubles during the last
five years. In 2009 alone, the regional government granted
SpasskCement a reduced 20 percent tax on profit and a 92 million
ruble subsidy. These favors are not unexplainable: Igor
Pushkarev, the current mayor of Vladivostok, started his
political career in Spassk-Dalniy in 2001 as the Director of
VostokCement. Moreover, Igor's younger brother, Andrey, who
recently succeeded Igor as the Director General, is the main
shareholder of the Cyprus-based Lymex Holdings LTD, the owner of
92.14% of VostokCement.
DESPITE SUPPORT, SPASSKCEMENT FLOUNDERING
2. Government support has not helped the company or
Spassk-Dalniy, where it is located. In Soviet times,
SpasskCement was an honorable place to work. The Novospasskiy
Cement Plant, one of the company's two plants, was the largest
manufacturer of construction materials in the Russian Far East,
producing an annual output of over 3.7 million tons of cement.
The plant was also the largest employer in the city, with more
than 5,000 employees.
3. More recently, SpasskCement's two plants have faced numerous
difficulties. The Novospasskiy cement plant suspended
operations in the 1990's, but reopened after 2000. In late 2008,
Rosprirodnadzor ordered the 100-year old Spasskiy cement plant
closed because of inadequate air filtration and obsolete
equipment. The plant had exposed Spassk-Dalniy's residents to
dangerous amounts of cement dust.
4. SpasskCement has not grown during the last two decades.
Although the company's annual output of cement in 2008 was 65
percent higher than in 2007, its output in 2008 was just over
half of 1988 production. SpasskCement stopped operating and put
all of its workers on indefinite enforced leave in late 2008.
The company resumed operations in late spring of 2009.
SUBSIDIES HAVE NOT BENEFITTED THE TOWN OF SPASSK-DALNIY
5. Spassk-Dalniy has also faced its share of hardships. In
Soviet times, it was one of the most comfortable cities in
Primorye, with a population of over 60,000 people. Currently,
Spassk-Dalniy's population is declining and most of the
residents are pensioners with limited incomes. In spite of
development projects, living conditions remain poor. The
Pushkarev brothers recently renovated a polyclinic and a cinema,
and Igor Pushkarev donated an ultrasound unit to the municipal
polyclinic. However, the city is unable to purchase
SpasskCement's concrete at preferential prices to repair
dilapidated roads.
SPASSKCEMENT HAS NOT ECONOMICALLY USED ITS RESOURCES
6. Analysts argue that SpasskCement has poorly allocated both
its income and its state subsidies. Although VostokCement
representatives claim that their LLC uses money from
preferential tax treatment to renovate and upgrade VostokCement
assets, a review of SpasskCement's investments suggests
otherwise. Of the company's 2007 income, SpasskCement invested
526 million rubles in the securities of other businesses and
distributed 152 million rubles as shareholder dividends. In
decisions that benefited neither the company nor the community,
SpasskCement also granted a 58 million ruble, 7% interest,
three-year loan to VostokCement and a 100 million ruble, 7%,
ten-year loan to Vladimir Pushkarev, Deputy Director of
VostokCement. Since SpasskCement spent only 1.3 million rubles
on industrial needs, signs of renovation at the company are
rare. Instead of modernizing SpasskCement's equipment, the
VostokCement Board of Directors closed the old factory in 2008.
Moreover, the equipment at the 33-year-old Novospasskiy plant
needs to be replaced.
7. Comment: SpasskCement's status as the official
manufacturer of cement products for the 2012 APEC Summit-related
construction may assure the future for the Pushkarevs and their
family empire; however, living conditions in Spassk-Dalniy are
unlikely to improve.
MILLER
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON PGOV
SUBJECT: CEMENT BUSINESS RECEIVES GENEROUS GOVERMENT SUBSIDIES
1. Summary: In the SpasskCement Co. Inc., the line between
public and private is blurred. Although the company is part of
the privately owned VostokCement LLC, SpasskCement has regularly
received financial assistance from the Primorskiy Krai
government, including over 560 million rubles during the last
five years. In 2009 alone, the regional government granted
SpasskCement a reduced 20 percent tax on profit and a 92 million
ruble subsidy. These favors are not unexplainable: Igor
Pushkarev, the current mayor of Vladivostok, started his
political career in Spassk-Dalniy in 2001 as the Director of
VostokCement. Moreover, Igor's younger brother, Andrey, who
recently succeeded Igor as the Director General, is the main
shareholder of the Cyprus-based Lymex Holdings LTD, the owner of
92.14% of VostokCement.
DESPITE SUPPORT, SPASSKCEMENT FLOUNDERING
2. Government support has not helped the company or
Spassk-Dalniy, where it is located. In Soviet times,
SpasskCement was an honorable place to work. The Novospasskiy
Cement Plant, one of the company's two plants, was the largest
manufacturer of construction materials in the Russian Far East,
producing an annual output of over 3.7 million tons of cement.
The plant was also the largest employer in the city, with more
than 5,000 employees.
3. More recently, SpasskCement's two plants have faced numerous
difficulties. The Novospasskiy cement plant suspended
operations in the 1990's, but reopened after 2000. In late 2008,
Rosprirodnadzor ordered the 100-year old Spasskiy cement plant
closed because of inadequate air filtration and obsolete
equipment. The plant had exposed Spassk-Dalniy's residents to
dangerous amounts of cement dust.
4. SpasskCement has not grown during the last two decades.
Although the company's annual output of cement in 2008 was 65
percent higher than in 2007, its output in 2008 was just over
half of 1988 production. SpasskCement stopped operating and put
all of its workers on indefinite enforced leave in late 2008.
The company resumed operations in late spring of 2009.
SUBSIDIES HAVE NOT BENEFITTED THE TOWN OF SPASSK-DALNIY
5. Spassk-Dalniy has also faced its share of hardships. In
Soviet times, it was one of the most comfortable cities in
Primorye, with a population of over 60,000 people. Currently,
Spassk-Dalniy's population is declining and most of the
residents are pensioners with limited incomes. In spite of
development projects, living conditions remain poor. The
Pushkarev brothers recently renovated a polyclinic and a cinema,
and Igor Pushkarev donated an ultrasound unit to the municipal
polyclinic. However, the city is unable to purchase
SpasskCement's concrete at preferential prices to repair
dilapidated roads.
SPASSKCEMENT HAS NOT ECONOMICALLY USED ITS RESOURCES
6. Analysts argue that SpasskCement has poorly allocated both
its income and its state subsidies. Although VostokCement
representatives claim that their LLC uses money from
preferential tax treatment to renovate and upgrade VostokCement
assets, a review of SpasskCement's investments suggests
otherwise. Of the company's 2007 income, SpasskCement invested
526 million rubles in the securities of other businesses and
distributed 152 million rubles as shareholder dividends. In
decisions that benefited neither the company nor the community,
SpasskCement also granted a 58 million ruble, 7% interest,
three-year loan to VostokCement and a 100 million ruble, 7%,
ten-year loan to Vladimir Pushkarev, Deputy Director of
VostokCement. Since SpasskCement spent only 1.3 million rubles
on industrial needs, signs of renovation at the company are
rare. Instead of modernizing SpasskCement's equipment, the
VostokCement Board of Directors closed the old factory in 2008.
Moreover, the equipment at the 33-year-old Novospasskiy plant
needs to be replaced.
7. Comment: SpasskCement's status as the official
manufacturer of cement products for the 2012 APEC Summit-related
construction may assure the future for the Pushkarevs and their
family empire; however, living conditions in Spassk-Dalniy are
unlikely to improve.
MILLER