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By Bloomberg

Russian exporters are piling up rubles after President Vladimir Putin’s government asked their help in supporting the currency last year.

OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, Russia’s largest miner, and steelmaker PAO Severstal are among exporters converting more of their dollars and euros into local currency, according to company filings and people with knowledge of the situation. It’s a policy encouraged by the government to help stabilize the ruble after its 47 percent plunge last year.

As the currency crashed, Putin called on Russian companies to coordinate foreign exchange deals with the central bank. That some of the country’s largest businesses appear to be complying shows the growing influence of the state over the economy as Russia contends with lower oil prices, currency devaluation and sanctions.

Russia’s central bank said it monitors currency sales by companies, though sets no targets for transactions.

“The serious work with exporters was important in December and the beginning of January when the currency market was very narrow and the volatility was high,” the bank’s press service said on Thursday in response to questions from Bloomberg. “Now the market is recovering and is not that dependent on the exporter revenue sales.”

The ruble has been the world’s best-performing emerging market currency this month, gaining 12 percent versus the U.S. dollar.

“Export revenue sales, which increased since the end of last year, give significant support to ruble and they are also one of the major reasons for the ruble’s plunge slowing down,” Anton Tabakh, a director at RusRating, a Russian credit-rating firm.

Norilsk, controlled by billionaire Vladimir Potanin, sold foreign currency for about 30 billion rubles ($483 million) in cash since the end of December, after the government encouraged companies to switch export earnings into local currency, two people with the knowledge of situation said, asking not to be named because the information isn’t public.

Use Cash

After piling up more rubles than they need for operations, the company is considering what do with it and may use the cash to buyback shares from investors, the people said.

Norilsk press service declined to comment on its currency sales on Wednesday.

PAO Severstal, which had $1.9 billion of cash and equivalents at end of 2014, held 42 percent of its money in rubles in the fourth quarter, up from 8 percent three months earlier, according to presentation on its website this week. That’s the highest share since at least 2011.

While the steelmaker hasn’t come under pressure from the government, it informs the government on its foreign exchange activities because “it’s important to them,” Chief Executive Officer Alexey Mordashov said on Wednesday.

Some the increase was seasonal, the company said. Severstal held 35 percent as rubles in the same period a year ago.

OAO Lukoil, the country’s largest privately owned oil producer, coordinates its currency sales with the central bank, CEO Vagit Alekperov said in December.

Monitoring Activity

All privately owned Russian exporters are selling foreign currency because the central bank is monitoring their activity, said Kirill Chuyko, head of equity research at Moscow-based broker BCS Financial Group.

Not surprisingly, government-run companies are playing their part. Russia’s largest oil company, OAO Rosneft, has already boasted of its efforts to support the currency. The company sold $93 billion of oil-export revenue last year, saying earlier this month it was “the most significant contribution to the strengthening of the national currency, which experienced a speculative attack.”

The company declined to comment further.

Other large exporters including fertilizer makers OAO Uralkali and OAO Phosagro and aluminum producer United Co. Rusal declined to comment.