Today in Russian Business – May 20, 2008

A railway linking Russia and Iran via Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan will open in December 2011. Metalloinvest, the iron ore and steel company owned by billionaire Alisher Usmanov, plans to float up to 25% of its shares in an initial public offering later this year. VTB Group plans to sell $2 billion of bonds that will yield almost 7% to international investors. Responding to higher meat prices, Cherkizovo Group has increased pork and poultry production in the first quarter. In anticipation of high grain prices, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the budget would allot new funds to buy millions of tons of grain for interventions. It is thought that Russian food prices will remain high “at least for the next ten years”. Rosstat has published new data on those with incomes lower than the cost of living. Peugeot Citroen and Mitsubishi Motors Co. have signed a deal to set up a Russian joint venture.