For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 27, 2003
U.S.-Russian Commercial Investments Fact Sheet
U.S.-Russian Commercial Investments
According to Russian Government data, foreign direct investment into
Russia in the first half of 2003 was up 35 percent over the same period
in 2002. The U.S. is the leading source of cumulative foreign direct
investment into Russia, and the more than $600 million of U.S. direct
investment into Russia in 2002 was 15 percent of all foreign direct
investment in Russia.
U.S. direct investment in Russia has historically been concentrated
in energy, but recent trends point to diversification. Numerous U.S.
companies have expressed an interest in expanding or establishing new
significant investments in Russia in various sectors, including wood
processing and paper production, diesel engines production and
sunflower seed oil processing.
Russian firms are also investing in the United States. For example
in June 2003, Stillwater Mining Company of Columbus Montana and MMC
Norilsk Nickel signed a Stock Purchase Agreement, completing the
largest single transaction by a Russian company with an American
corporation. Stillwater is the only U.S. producer of palladium and
platinum and the largest primary producer of palladium in the Western
Hemisphere, as well as the largest primary producer of platinum group
metals outside of South Africa. Norilsk Nickel is the world's largest
leading mining company and the world's largest producer of nickel and
palladium.
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