Today in Russian Business – March 3rd, 2009

The Russian stock market was Europe’s best performer last month, as neighboring markets crumbled.  Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin predicts that the Russian economy will begin growing again ‘when private demand revitalizes itself on the market,’ which he does not expect to see happening until 2010.  Bookberry, the Western-style bookstore chain owned by Oleg Deripaska’s Rainko, has filed for bankruptcy.  The Tsarist-era Dulevo Porcelain pottery is on the verge of collapse.  Norilsk Nickel is not planning to cut any jobs in Russia even though low prices are likely to halve sales revenues this year.  Arms export monopoly Rosoboronexport says it has a portfolio of orders worth a total of $27 billion, enough to provide domestic defense firms with contracts to keep them going for the next four years.  Moscow’s Institute of Nutrition says it is ‘trying to use the current crisis to change the nation’s eating habits’ with its new crisis diet.