Today in Russian Business

The St. Petersburg raw material and commodity exchange will start operating in May, with the government poised to promote companies working on the exchanges, according to Viktor Zubkov. Large champagne houses are “enjoying booming demand” in China and Russia. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin sees the central bank’s deposits, mandatory reserve requirements and market operations as key anti-inflation levers in 2008. Russia’s weapons exporting monopoly Rosoboronexport and Indian Hindustan Aeronautical will finalize an $8.5-million development contract in April. PepsiCo and the Pepsi Bottling Group have agreed to buy 75.53% of the juice business of Lebedyansky, Russia’s leading juice producer, for $1.4 billion. Russia’s foreign currency and gold reserves rose to a record $502.1 billion last week.