| Geographical Information Area - 20,600 sq.
km.
Population 1,486,000
The Khmelnytsky oblast belongs to small oblasts of the country, with its area 3.4% of the
territory of Ukraine.
The oblast stretches for 220 km from the north to the south and for 120 km from the east
to the west.
The oblast is located in the southwest of the East European plain in the forest steppe and
mixed forest zones of Polissya (Woodland). The relief, soil and agro climatic conditions
of the area are favorable for economic and settlement development.
The Khmelnytsky oblast borders on Ternopil, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsya, and Chernivtsi
oblasts. The oblast is crossed by most important railways and highways.
Administratively, the oblast is divided into 20 districts; 13 towns, including 5 regional
subordination towns (Khmelnytsky, Kamyanets-Podilsky, Shgepetovka, Slavuta, and Netishyn)
and 24 town type settlements; there are 1,417 villages. The largest towns of the oblast
are Khmelnytsky (the oblast's Centre) and Kamyanets-Podilsky. Other towns are small as to
their population.
The Khmelnytsky oblast is the 12th among oblasts of Ukraine in the number of population.
As of 1 January 1998 its urban population amounted to 775.9 thousand ( 52.2%) and its
rural people to 710.3 thousand ( 47.8%) of the total population of the oblast.
The average density of population of the oblast is somewhat smaller than that of Ukraine
as a whole (72.0 as against 83.6 per sq. km).
An effective development of tourism in the oblast is promoted by existence of many
historical, cultural and architectural monuments.
It is feasible to establish and develop tourist routes on places associated with the
historical past of the oblast.
The oblast is rich in mineral resources.
By the present time 260 deposits of mineral resources have been explored, preliminary and
detailed, 100 of which are mostly of a local importance (brick clays, sands, limestone for
production of lime, limestone and granites for production of crushed stone and rubble).
State importance mineral resources include limestone and clays for manufacture of cement,
limestone for the sugar industry, kaolin (china clay) for the porcelain/faience industry
and production of refractors, gypsum and flint. New mineral resource types - graphite,
saponite, glauconite, phosphorites, and facing granites - have also been prospected.
One of the most promising lines of development of the oblast's mineral resource base is a
commercial exploring of graphite from deposits found in the northeast of the oblast.
The Burtynske graphite deposit is located in Polonsky and Shepetivsky districts. Ores of
the deposit are easily concentrated. The yield of graphite concentrate is 95% and the ash
content is low (2.5% to 11%). All kinds and grades of graphite can be produced from ore.
Reserves and inferred resources of graphite ores of the deposit on the whole amount to
350,000,000 tons.
Twenty one graphite deposits with resources of 230-250,000,000 cu. m have been explored in
the oblast, it fully meets the oblast's demand of the building raw materials for 100-120
years.
The geological exploration in the northern and central parts of the oblast revealed a
number of promising deposits of red and dark gray granite, diorite, and labradorite with
high decorative properties.
The Khmelnytsky oblast is the only one in Ukraine and in the former Soviet Union where
deposits of saponite clays have been explored, which are the unique natural formations
forming quite a province of bentonite raw materials with specific properties.
Resources of saponite deposits in the oblast amount to over 100,000,000 tons. The width of
the productive bed is 10-40 m, and of the overlying rocks 5-20 m. The most explored are
Varvarivske and Tashkivske saponite clay deposits with resources exceed 60,000,000 tons.
Adamivske and Karachiyivske complex deposits of glauconite sands with resources of about
30,000,000 tons have been explored in the south of the oblast in Vinkovetsky district. A
high agrotechnical efficiency of the use of glauconite as a cheap chlorine free potash
phosphate fertilizer in agriculture has been ascertained.
The oblast has phosphoric deposits, raw material for manufacture of mineral fertilizers.
At present, Dzurdzhiyivske, Maidanske, and Haidamatske deposits and some beds of
concretionary phosphorites, whose phosphorous anhydride reserves, according to latest
calculations, exceed 190 thousand tons and have not been developed.
Some prospects are associated with the explored ore type, new for the oblast, granular
phosphorites, whose inferred resources amount to about 120,000,000 tons.
The oblast has large resources of medicinal and table water. At present, there have been
explored and developed Zbruchanske, Zaichykivske, and Makivske springs of a
"Naftusya" type mineral water; Teofipolske of a "Myrgorodska" type
mineral water; Polonske of a radon's mineral water; and 10 deposits of table water. All
they have been certified.
A detailed prospecting and approval of resources have been carried out in two springs:
Ruchanske with 258 cu. m/day and Zaichykivske -28 cu. m/day. Recent studies have shown
that "Naftusia" type mineral water springs stretch for 1,100 km along the river
Zbruch and their total inferred reserves amount to 190 thousands cu. m/day.
Economy
The economy of the Khmelnytsky oblast is a component of the national economy complex of
Ukraine. The oblast produces 2.0% of industrial products, 8.4% of sugar, 5.5% of milk,
4.8% of meat, 4.2% of cereals, and 5.4% of potatoes of the total production in the
country.
Specific features of the sectoral structure of the oblast's economy are most objectively
represented by the division of people employed in economic spheres. The proportion of
agricultural workers exceeds that of industry employees (44.5% and 18.6% respectively).
About 5.4% of working population are employed in house building, 4.6% transport and
communication enterprises, 4.5% trade and public catering and about 15% in the public
education, science, culture, and social security.
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Industry
As of 1 January 1998, there were 276 independent enterprises functioning in the oblast, of
them 67 (24.3%) of the state ownership and 209 (75.7%) of a collective ownership. An
important place among industrial sectors is held by machine building and metalworking,
which employ 44.2% of the total number of industrial workers of the oblast. Enterprises of
this sector manufacture machine tools, forging and pressing machines, transformers, farm
machinery for plant growing, production equipment for processing sectors of the agro
industrial complex, cables, electrical engineering products. Largest enterprises of the
oblast include public joint stock companies (PJSC) "Ukrelektroaparat",
"Kation", "Advis", "Prigma-Pres",
"Termoplastavtomat", production association "Novator",
Kamyanets-Podilsky PJSC "Motor", "Elektroprylad" and cable works, PJSC
"Shepetivsky cultivator works", Volochysky PJSC "Nominal", machine
tool building PJSC "Hover" in Horodok and others.
In the previous year oblast's enterprises started commercial production of new kinds of
goods. These include forage combine harvester Maral -125 "Podillya"
("Advis"), container and packing manufacturing machinery
("Termoplastavtomat"), space heating boilers ("Temp"), rifle butts and
forestock ("Neva"), new types of hard alloy disk saws (Kamyanets-Podilsky
woodcutting tool works "Motor"), new series electrolytic capacitors
("Kation"), combined cultivating unit "Podillya" ("Shepetovsky
cultivator works"), range of new transformers ("Ukrelektroaparat"), radio
stations for diesel and electric locomotives ("Novator"), electric vacuum
cleaners (Shepetivskyi works "Pulsar") as well as gas, water, and heat flow
meters and other products.
A leading place is held by the food industry, whose output makes 40.2% of the total
oblast's production. It includes such sectors as sugar, bakery, confectionery, macaroni,
canned vegetable, meat and dairy, distillery, brewing, flour grinding/cereal, tobacco
etc., which employs 22.4% of industrial workers of the oblast.
The Khmelnytsky oblast is among the most important Ukrainian sugar making oblasts, 16
sugar factories are functioning in it. The annual output of sand sugar can is 600 thousand
tons and export deliveries are 150 thousand tons. The largest sugar factories are in
Khmelnytsky, Shgepetovka, Kamianets-Podilsky, Teofipol, Horodok, and Derazhnya.
The light industry of the oblast is developing on the basis of processing local raw
materials (leather) and those brought from outside (wool, cotton, textile, leather). It
includes such sectors as garment, textile, footwear, knitwear, and haberdashery. The
largest enterprises are PJSC "Vzuteks", PJSC "Leather Haberdashery",
and close joint stock company " Khmelnytsklehprom" in Khmelnytsky, cloth factory
in Dunaevtsi, and garment factory "Horyn" in Volochysk.
The forest and woodworking industry manufactures furniture, containers, building
materials, paper and board. The largest furniture factories are in Khmelnytsky, Iziaslav,
and Petychev. Products of joint stock companies "Slavutsko-Iolianska Paper
Factory" and "Ponikivsky Integrated Board and Paper Works" enjoy a great
demand.
Of great importance for the progress of the oblast's economy is the power industry. The
Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant in the town of Netishyn is connected with the power grids
of Ukraine and Central European countries. The share of the power industry in the total
industrial output makes 28.4%.
There are also enterprises that manufacture domestic chemistry goods ("Lotos"
works in Slavuta), musical instruments ("Oktava" factory in Iziaslav),
tableware, medical instruments, recreational and other consumer goods.Transport
and Communications
The Khmelnytsky oblast has a well developed transport network. It has an important
location at transport ways, that connect main industrial oblasts of Ukraine (metropolitan,
Kharkiv, Dniproside, Donbas) and Russia as well as Black Sea ports with Western Ukraine
oblasts and countries of Central and East Europe.
A railway and a number of motor roads leading to Belarus, Baltic countries, Moldova, and
Southeast Europe countries cross the oblast from the north to the south.
The main means of freight and passenger transportation both within the oblast and to other
oblasts of the country is the railway. The oblast is located in the zone of activity of
the southwestern railway and has 40 railway stations. The largest railway junctions in the
oblast are the Shgepetovka and Hrechany (near Khmelnytsky) stations.
The oblast Centre has a convenient railway communication with European capitals - Moscow,
Prague, Bratislava, Warsaw, Budapest, and Belgrade.
An electrified Zhmerynka-Khmelnytsky line has been put in operation. It is planned to
complete in 1998 the electrification towards the Lviv railway, which will allow carriage
of freights and passengers by electric trains.
In the future the transport communication will become better as it is planned to build a
high speed motorway "West Europe-Kyiv", which will pass through the Khmelnytsky
oblast.
The city of Khmelnytsky has an airport whose concrete runway is 2,200 meters long, which
meets requirements of an international airport. A checkpoint for crossing the state border
of Ukraine is functioning in the airport.
The pipeline transport is represented by gas pipelines crossing the oblast:
"Soyuz" (Orenburg to the western border of Ukraine), Urengoi-Uzhgorod, and
Dashava-Kyiv.
Telecommunications in the oblast are being further developed. The Kyiv-West fiber optical
cable has been laid across the oblast, "UTEL" international communication system
is energetically expanding the zone of its activity and mobile telephone communication
network is developing.
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Agriculture
The Khmelnytsky oblast has about 4% of all farmlands of Ukraine. The first place among
agricultural sectors is held by the plant growing, which gives about 52% of the total
agricultural output.
The largest sown areas in the oblast are occupied by cereal crops (43.3%) and among them
is winter wheat. Barley, peas, oats, buckwheat are also being cultivated. The oblast is
among the most important sugar beet growing producers, it's grown on about 10% of all sown
area.
An important sector of the plant growing is the potato growing. Essential oil bearing
plants are grown in Letychivsky, Derazhniansky, and Khmelnytsky districts, and chicory in
the Slavutskyi and Starokostyantynivsky districts.
Natural conditions are favorable for development of the vegetable growing, but sown lands
for vegetable growing are small so far. Over 40% of sown lands are occupied by forage
crops (perennial grasses, corn for silage, peas, vetch, fodder beets, alfalfa, turnips).
Podillya is a land of gardening. Main fruit crops include apples, pears, apricots, cherry,
merry, and Persian walnuts. The largest concentration of the gardens is in the Dnisterside
(Vinkovetsky, Dunayevetsky, Novoushytsky, Kamyanets-Podilsky districts).
The animal husbandry in the oblast is based on a field fodder production, natural
pastures, food industry wastes, and manufacture of combined fodder. The most important
sectors are beef and dairy cattle husbandry and pig breeding. Poultry, sheep, and rabbit
breeding, apiculture and fish farming are developed as well.
A program of intensification of the animal husbandry has been worked out in the oblast,
the base of which is the establishment of specialized arrays of breeding stock,
competitive dairy and beef cattle, increase in the share of hybrid and crossbred young
pigs. A network of breeding centres and farm is functioning. It is planned to change the
structure of the main herd towards increase of the number of beef cows in the Polissya
zone and to compensate the reduction of dairy cattle by raising their productivity. Foreign
Economic Relations
The period of formation of market relations in the oblast is characterized by
intensification of the foreign economic activity. Export and import volumes have grown in
recent years, and the oblast's balance of trade is positive. The Khmelnytsky oblast has
established relations with partners in 66 countries of the world, and this list has been
extending. Considerable turnovers have taken place with the Russian Federation (66.5%),
Germany (6.3%), and Belarus (4.2%).
Over 1/3 of export is live animals and animal husbandry products. Also exported are
machinery and equipment, food industry products, farm produce, paper products and building
materials.
Main items of imports are transport facilities and spare parts for them, electrical
equipment, TV and radio devices, mineral products, plastics and rubber.
The advantageous transport geographical location along with considerable manpower
resources under conditions of market reformation of the Ukrainian economy create a
potential for attracting foreign investments. The amount of foreign investments in the
oblast is growing gradually. Representatives from 21 countries of the world have become
partners of the Khmelnytsky oblast. The largest amounts of foreign investments came from
Germany (28.1%), Cyprus (8.1%), Belarus (14.4%), and the USA (8.4%). Joint projects with
Great Britain, Hungary, Czech Republic and the Bahamas have been started. Interest has
been attracted to 15 sectors of the oblast's economy, among them a considerable share of
investments has been received by the machine building and metalworking, domestic trade,
agriculture and food industry.
The major part of foreign investments has been obtained by enterprises with a collective
form of ownership (97.5%), and the rest by private and state owned ones. The objective of
attraction of investments consists in creation of new jobs, expansion of production, and
market saturation with goods and services.
The oblast's economy needs long term relations with the strategic investor. Many
enterprises of various forms of ownership are interested in obtaining direct investments
are searching for cooperation in order to obtain advanced technologies and management
experience, to increase the farm crops and harvesting.
Background
The Khmelnytsky oblast is located at the frontier with large historical and geographic
territories: Rightbank Ukraine (to which it belongs) and Western Ukraine. In a more narrow
understanding, the oblast's territory belongs to Volyn (northern part, approximately up to
the river Sluch) and Podillya (middle and southern parts). In the past Volyn and Podillya
were included into one and the same or different states; southern and western boundaries
of the present day oblast were state frontiers for a long time.
In prewar years Khmelnytsky oblast turned from a border into an inland oblast of the
country. A narrow strip of the Chernivtsi oblast at the south separates it from Moldova
(10 km by a straight line) and Romania (24 km), the Polish border shifted much further
(165-240 km).
The oblast has been existing in the present boundaries since 22 September 1937, when the
Kamayanets-Podilsky oblast was formed by a resolution of the All-Union Central Executive
Committee of the USSR. In May 1941 the regional Centre was transferred to the town of
Proskurov, and in January 1954 the oblast as well as its Centre were given a new name of
Khmelnytsky.
A particular place in the historical chronicle of Podillya is held by the ancient
Kamianets-Podilsky, one of oldest historic towns of Ukraine. Owing to a unique combination
of the historical, architectural inheritance and the landscape of the canyon of the river
Smotrych the ancient Rus and medieval parts of the town has been declared a state
historical architectural memorial. Architectural monuments of 15th-19th centuries include
about 200 buildings and constructions. Formidable defense fortifications of the "Old
Town". The fortress and its bridge, combination of cult buildings of various
religions produce an inimitable impression.
Taking into account the rich historical architectural inheritance of the "Old
Town", the National Commission of Ukraine for matters of UNESCO in May 1994
recommended to nominate it as a candidate for the register of the world's cultural
inheritance.
In the settlement Medzhybit is the grave of Baal-Shem Tova, the founder of one of major
trends of the Judaic faith, the Khasidism, which is a Mecca for religious pilgrims,
khasids.
Also of great interest are other architectural and antique monuments of the oblast, as
well as natural exotic places: fortresses in the towns of Letychev and Khotyn, karst
grotto "Atlantide", health resort "Sataniv", located in a picturesque
place of ancient Medobora hills, "Blue Lakes" in woods near the town of Slavuta,
the "Holy Lake" associated with an ancient legend, in woods near the town of
Izyaslav, canyons of the Dnister river that flows in the south of the oblast, and
"Podilski Tovtry"- the largest national natural park in Ukraine and Europe. |
