European Bearing Corp. (Russia) has reportedly shut down production at its plants in Saratov and Volgograd for several weeks.

Scattered local and state news agency reports indicate that several of the company's key customers have been slow or unable to pay long-overdue bills. The resulting liquidity crisis has left EBC unable to buy enough raw materials or pay workers.

Among the debtors is AutoVAZ, reportedly owing EBC Saratov nearly 200 million rubles (USD $4 million).

Founder Oleg Savchenko told the Soviet state news agency that EBC has essentially stopped production in Saratov and Volgograd, and is paying workers a reduced salary.

While the plants are closed, there is enough inventory on hand that workers have so far been able to continue shipping customer orders.

EBC is the largest CIS bearing company, controlling approximately 40% of the overall Russian bearing market, and producing more than 80% of the country's non-commodity and specialty bearings. The company has a number of other bearing plants so far unaffected by the problem, including a new venture set to produce large industrial bearings in India