| Geographical Information Territory -
8,100km
Population - 944,000
The Chernivtsi region is situated in the southwest of Ukraine in three nature geographical
zones: forest/steppe, occupying the Prut-Dniester interfluve, foremountain zone,
distributed between the Carpathians and the Prut River and a mountain zone, embracing the
Bukovynian Carpathians.
In its present borders the region territory reaches 1.3% of the territory of Ukraine, on
the south and southwest it borders with Romania and Moldova and on the west it borders
with the Ivano-Frankivsk, on the north, with the Ternopil and Khmelnytsky and on the east
with the Vynnytsia regions. It has good railway and motor road communication both with
foreign countries and neighboring regions.
The region is divided into 11 administrative districts. It included 11 towns, 8
settlements, 398 villages with 403,000 people in the towns and 541,000 in villages. The
population density is 117 people per 1 sq.km.
Foreign Economic Relations
The frontier distribution, favorable natural climatic conditions, rich recreation
resources, economic and scientific potential, socio cultural and historical traditions
open the broad prospects for the development of fruitful international cooperation.
The foreign economic activity of the region is directed to development of the export
potential in all the spheres of the national economy.
The product of machine building, forestry, woodworking, light and food industries prevail
in the export structure. Russia, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Belarus', Moldova, Romania,
Turkmenistan, Austria are main importers.
The products of technical purpose, industrial and food products prevail in the structure
of import. Russia, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Belarus' are main exporters.
Trade relations are kept with the countries of CIS and Baltic States, Europe, Asia,
America.
For 1998, 267 joint ventures with foreign investments have been registered in the
region; about 30 countries of the world are presented in JVs of the region.
For 1998 the volume of foreign investments in the Chernivtsi region made $9,245,300.
During 1997 the volume of investments has grown by $ 3 642 700 (63% of the sum invested
before 1997).
History and Culture
The city of Chernivtsi is the region Centre with population of 260,000 people. In
accordance with historical documents it was founded in the 12th century at the parting of
great trade ways. In the deed of Moldavian sovereign Olexander Dobry of October 8, 1408,
the city of Chernivtsi is mentioned as the customs city crossed by the trade roads to
about twenty cities of the East and Europe. Today the railway, motor and air
communications connect Chernivtsi with the cities of Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Poland,
Moldova; the city is crossed by the shortest road between the ports of the Black and the
Baltic Seas.
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Industry
Favorable climatic conditions as well as high nature recreational and resort potential
always determined and continue determining to certain extent the economic trends of the
Chernivtsi region.
In the years of independence such industry branches as chemical, metal working, instrument
making and machine building develop side by side with the light, food and woodworking
industries. The region makes now about 100% of the total Ukrainian production of oil
equipment (SC" Chernivtsi Machine Building Plant"), 16.5% of hosiery (SC
"Malva"), 4.2% of furniture, 3.2% of knitted garments, considerable share of
sawed timber and footwear.
Certain kinds of equipment for heat power plants, oil refineries, knitted goods factories,
semiconductor devices are produced only in Chernivtsi.
The main industrial enterprises of the region are as follows: SC "Chernivtsi Machine
Building Plant" (production of oil production equipment), SC "Voskhod"
(textile, carpets), SC "Trembita" (upperwear), association
"Chernivtsilegmash" (knitting automates and parts for them), plant
"Graviton" (integral circuits, goods of complicated domestic equipment), SC
"Kvartz" (optoelectronic facilities), SC "Rozma" (Rubber footwear), UP
"Plant of Domestic Chemistry" (varnish and paint materials), SC Hertsaiv factory
"Prut" (upperwear), OSC "Electronmash" (computer facilities), SC
"Chernivtsi Chemical Plant", SC Hosiery Enterprise "Malva", knitted
gloves factory "Nadiya, SC Confectionery "Bukovinka", "Chernivtsi
Yeast Plant", OE "Chernivtsi Timber Mill", woodworking plants in
Vyzhnytsya, Nepolokivtsi, Krasnoilsk, Chernivtsi. Each enterprise actively develops a
network of its shops which runs to above 40 ones.
The region numbers 81 enterprises of food and processing industries which provide the
processing of agricultural products and can process above 700 denominations of life
important food products. The meat, milk, sugar, oil and fat, confectionery, bakery,
canning, brewery soft drink, alcohol, liquor/vodka, grain elevator branches are the basic
ones in the region. The city of Chernivtsi and its districts number 4 sugar plants, 9
enterprises of grain elevator and grain processing industry, 11 milk processing plants.
Besides, the collective and state agricultural farms have 172 mills, 32 backers, 50 oil
mills, 15 sausage shops 16 shops of mineral water bottling, 32 canneries, 25 sawmills, 81
woodworking, 22 packing, 34 tile shops, 33 brick plants. About 50 new subsidiary
enterprises have been built and put in operation in the years of Ukraine independence:
their number has reached 1298 units by 1998.
Agriculture
The agro industrial complex is the important part of the national economy production in
the Chernivtsi region.
By February 1, 1998 the agricultural production was made by 25 agrofirms, 6 stock
companies, 4 associations, 2 cooperatives, 677 farmer's and 270 500 individuals.
Cereals, sugar beet, potato, vegetables, fruit, flax, milk, meat, eggs; cattle, swine,
sheep and poultry meat are the basic kinds of agricultural products and raw materials
manufactured in the region.
The agroindustrial complex of the region in 1997 has produced 2,766,000 centners of
cereals, 64,200 centners of sugar, 118,000 c of potato, 145,000 c of vegetables, 600 tons
of sunflower, 16 700 tons of meat, 71,700 tons of milk, 48,600 tons of wool, 8,100,000
eggs. The Chernivtsi region produces in total 1.9% of gross product of agriculture in
Ukraine, including granulated sugar 2.6%, butter 1.6%, 2.1% of the state production of
potato, vegetables 1.3%, flax 1%, fruit and berries 3.9%, sugar beet 1.9%, meat 1.8%, milk
1.4%, eggs 0.8%.
In 1995 the region reached the highest in the country yield of cereals (35.7c/ha),
occupied the second place in growing flax (5.9 c/ha), and the third place in growing sugar
beet (238.5c/ha) and the sixth place in growing potato (107.3 c/ha).
They have reformed 211 collective agricultural enterprises making 91% of the total number,
215 (99%) farms have received the state acts for the right of collective property for the
earth. Farmers cultivate above 3000 ha of agricultural lands. |
Natural Resources The region is rich for
natural resources. Four oil and gas bearing deposits (Lopushne, Chornoguzy, Krasnoilsk,
Sheremetiv) have been found in the Chernivtsi region territory. Above ten oil and gas
promising areas have been recently opened in the Vyzhnytsya, Novoselytsya, Storozhinets',
Putila districts).
There are a lot of building materials in the region bowels. Considerable deposits of
gypsum and anhydride exist in the Dniester area and the Prut basin. The northern and
eastern districts of the region are rich in marls and limestone.
The loam from the villages of the Vyzhnytsya district are used for brick, tile and pottery
production. The red, brown and gray sand stones are used both for road construction and
facing the buildings walls.
The region is also rich for the deposits of various sands: concrete, ballast, building and
white quartz sands. They are excavated in the villages of the Zastavna district.
The manifestations of gold as well as copper pyrite and polymetal mineralization are also
worth concern.
The bowels of the Chernivtsi region are rich in mineral water, which occurrence is
connected with certain structure hydrogeological zones. The sodium chloride brines are
distributed in the Lower Miocene deposits of the inner zone of the Forecarpathian trough
with mineralization of 10 to 200-300 g/dm .
Sulphate, hydrogen sulphate, ferruginous mineral waters with high contents of biologically
active bevalent iron, sources of sulphate-chloride-sodium, sulphate-calcium-sodium and
sodium hydrocarbonate waters are available in the region bowels.
Variability of ecological conditions, availability of vertical belts, different kinds of
landscapes, climatic conditions favored the formation of rather rich flora of higher
vascular plants in the number of 1,500 species.
The most fertile soils are characteristic of the forest/steppe zone. These areas mainly
the Dniester terraces, are covered with chernozem with crumb granular structure, including
about 7% of humus.
The derno meadow low podzolized, meadow chernozem podzolized and chernozem meadow soils
fit for growing vegetables are distributed in the Dniester and Prute valleys. There are
also gray, light gray, low and middle loamy soils in the forest/steppe zone.
The podzolized, derno podzolized, grey and dark gray soils are most distributed in the
foremounain zone.
Forest brown soils make the basic ground cover of the mountain zone. The areas free of
forest vegetation are used for agriculture and cultivated pastures.
The land stock of the region makes 809 600 ha with 477,300 ha of agricultural lands,
including: 341,900 ha of arable lands; 26,900 ha of long term stands; 39,000 ha of haying
lands; 69,500 ha of pastures. As a result of the broken and hilly relief the agricultural
development of the territory makes 60%; the area of arable lands 43%.
Forests, which are the source of wood and products of non woody plants, are of great
importance for economic and social development of the region. Their protection and
recreation part is also rather signification.
The total area of forests is 25,800 ha, including that covered with forest 236 800 ha
(91.8%); wood reserves are 62 530,000 m. The mature and declining stands cover the
territory of 48,500ha.
Species composition of the forests is rather diverse: conifers (49.5%) and hard leafed
stands (46.2%) prevail, the share of soft leafed species is rather inconsiderable (3.5%).
Spruce, beech, oak, hornbeam, ash, birch are the basic forest forming species. The
prevalence of young growth (29.4%) and middle aged stands (34.8%) is characteristic of
their structure, though the maturating (15.3%) as well as mature and over mature (20.5%)
stands also occupy considerable areas that is caused by their low availability. The
average age of stands is 60 years. |
