| Mode |
Comments |
| Air |
Sumy can be reached by internal flights from Kiev and other cities within Ukraine. |
| Road |
Sumy is reached by secondary roads from Kiev, Kharkiv, Poltava, etc. See distance table below. These distances are based on main roads wherever possible. For distances to other cities in Ukraine, compute the distances through Kiev. |
| Train |
Sumy can be reached by train from Kiev or Kharkiv. |
Road distances from Sumy to:
| City |
Oblast |
Kilometers |
Miles |
| Chernihiv |
Chernihiv |
391 |
243 |
| Dnepropetrovsk |
Dnepropetrovsk |
415 |
258 |
| Donetsk |
Donetsk |
518 |
322 |
| Kharkiv |
Kharkiv |
185 |
115 |
| Kherson |
Kherson |
896 |
557 |
| Kiev |
Kiev |
342 |
212 |
| Lugansk |
Lugansk |
516 |
320 |
| Melitopol |
Zaporizhia |
634 |
394 |
| Mykolaiv |
Mykolaiv |
962 |
589 |
| Odessa |
Odessa |
1,095 |
680 |
| Poltava |
Poltava |
167 |
104 |
| Simferopol |
Crimea |
719 |
447 |
| Zaporizhia |
Zaporizhia |
521 |
324 |
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Geographic Information
Area - 23,800,000 sq. km
Population - 1,384,000
The Sumy oblast is situated in the northeast part of Ukraine. On the North and the East the oblast borders on the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod oblasts of Russia; on the South, the southeast and the West it borders on the Kharkiv, Poltava and Chernihiv oblasts of Ukraine.
The Sumy oblast was established on January 10, 1939. It includes 7 towns of the oblast subordination and 18 districts, 20 townships of the district subordination, 20 settlements of urban type, 1479 villages.
The oblast center is the town of Sumy founded some four centuries ago. The town harmoniously combines antiquity and modernity, it boasts high tech industrial works, unique cathedrals with beautiful fountains, institutions of higher learning, nice recreation areas.
The oblast is rich in mineral resources. Among them are oil (30.5% of the total oil reserves of Ukraine), natural gas, peat, also the nonmetallic minerals like phosphates, rock and potash salt, gypsum, lime, marl, glass sand, mineral paints (mainly ochre), construction sands and stone.
165 rivers flow through the oblast with the total length - 5444 km. All of them belong to the Dnipro basin. The "enchanted" Desna, the legendary Seim, Sula and Psel, Vorskla are the biggest rivers of the oblast. The water of these rivers is used for local foundry production, for chemical and textile industries.
The forest area accounts for 387 thou. ha. There are different kinds of woods in local forests. Coniferous stands make up 43%, hardwoods - 45%, softwoods - 12%. back to top
Agriculture
The soil and climatic conditions in the oblast are favorable for farming and animal husbandry. The production of grain, sugar beet, potato, meat and milk is well developed.
The agro industrial sector incorporates 1280 enterprises and institutions, among them 559 are agricultural companies. There are also 889 private farms in the oblast.
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Foreign Economic Relations
The Sumy oblast is among a few other oblasts of Ukraine that did not decrease
their export potential last year. The oblast's export grew by 1.3% and reached $
268.6 million while import made up $ 169.9 million.
Local enterprises and institutions elaborated over 100 investment projects and proposals on restructuring of production, introduction of advanced processes and technologies, manufacture of new types of products.
In accordance with comprehensive oblast programs, several oblast investment projects are being developed or have already been elaborated.
The programs called "Native house" is implemented. It is intended for construction of apartments and farm houses. The program was ordered by the enterprise "The fund for investing the social and industrial projects" which was set up by the oblast state authorities. Annual investments of about $ 7 million are required to fully implement this program. It also envisages the provision of long term credits, material and technical support of individual builders, private farms and agricultural enterprises. The program will promote both the reconstruction of villages and increase of the output of agricultural produce.
Of oblast importance is the project called "Serial production of gasfilling compressor stations for the use of gas as motor engine fuel". The project, developed by the IJSC "Sumygolovpostach" (main supply company}, will help solve the energy saving and nature conservation problems in the oblast. The project's cost is $ 1690.1 thou. its implementation term - 3 years.
The IJSC Romny plant "Poligraphmash" (printing machinery} has developed the project for production of the beet lifter BK-6 "Romashka" which is essential for the oblast where the sugar beet fields occupy most of the available arable land. The quality and efficiency of this lifter are far better than those of other harvesters. Besides, the lifter's power units can be used for other kinds of agricultural works.
Of great oblast importance are also the projects ""The targeted investment program for stabilization of sugar beet production" elaborated by the association "Sumytsukor" (sugar); "Introduction of advance flax production processes" of the association "Sumylyonokopleprom" and "Production of the cotton seed flax fiber" of the Banychsky flax works; the projects of oil recovery industry like "Introduction of advanced processes for thick oil recovery and transportation" and "Construction of refinery in the Anastasiyivske oil field of the IJSC "Okhtyrkamsftogas"; "Construction of the unit for gas treatment in Kachanivka " of the Kachanivka refinery.
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Industry
The oblast's economy combines the primary production, manufacturing and multi sectional agricultural industries.
In 1997 metalworking and machine building accounted for 29.9% of local industrial output, food industry - 23.8%, fuel industry - 21.5%, chemical and petrochemical industry - 11.3%.
Some 150,000 persons are engaged in local industry.
The industrial works, located in the oblast's center (the town of Sumy) manufacture more than one third of all oblast's products.
At the end of 1997 over 300 self financing industrial works functioned in the oblast, quite a few of them are well known in Ukraine and abroad.
Among them is the Sumy inter sectional scientific and industrial association named after Frunze. This is a big enterprises producing the equipment for oil, gas and chemical industries. In 1996 the enterprise celebrated its 100 years foundation anniversary. Today it boasts the state-of-the-art equipment and production processes. This is a flexible and quickly adaptable enterprise which functions smoothly during the transition to market economy.
The industrial joint stock company (IJSC) "Sumykhimprom" is one of the biggest chemical plants in Ukraine. Utilizing the advanced technologies and high tech facilities, it manufactures highly competitive products. Today the plant is able to produce over 50 types of industrial goods which include mineral fertilizers, fodder additions, mineral pigments, water treatment coagulants, wide range of consumer goods. All of them are of great demand in Ukraine, the CIS, Europe, Asia and America.
The joint stock association "Selmi" is engaged in serial production of scientific devices, high tech equipment. It boasts the unique scientific and technological potential, rich experience in development and manufacture of high and super high vacuum systems, electronic and ionic-optical units, radioelectronics facilities.
The Konotop IJSC "Scientific industrial association "Chervony metallist" produces the automatic facilities for mining equipment, underground rail vehicles, the devices for controlling the content of methane and carbon monoxide in detonating gas. The research and design departments have been set up at this enterprise to diversify the range of products manufactured for mining industry.
The Shostka industrial amalgamation "Svema" is classified among the enterprises of the chemical and photo industry of Ukraine. It is the unique plant in this country which produces the light sensitive materials and magnetic media for such fields as health protection, radiobroadcast and television, space exploration, computation, printing and so on. This enterprise is the only one in the CIS producing certain types of light sensitive materials and magnetic tapes for defense purposes, space exploration, for professional and nonprofessional video recording at TV and radio stations.
The joint stock company "Krolevets fittings plant" is one of the biggest of its kind in Ukraine. It manufactures the valves for water, vapor and fuels, lubricant fittings, corrosive media , also for gas, ammonia and other media without solid particles.
IJSC "Svisky" produces the displacement and aligned pumps, new types of pumps and pumping systems by order of clients.
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Transport and Communication
The distance from the town of Sumy to Lviv by railroad - 350 km, by highways - 366 km, from Sumy to Moscow - 780 km and 720 km, respectively. The length of automobile roads - 5.9 thou. km. The interstate highway Kyiv-Moscow crosses the oblast. The basic railroads going through the Sumy oblast : Kyiv-Moscow, Kyiv-Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk-Saint Petersburg. Large railroad terminals: Konotop, Vorozhba, Smotodyno. The length of railroad lines - 823 km.
The following main gas lines go through the oblast: Urengoi-Pomary-Uzhgorod; Yelets-Kursk-Sumy-Dykanka; Kursk-Sumy-Kyiv; Sumy-Konotop; Belsk-Sumy; Kyiv-Bryansk. Oil pipelines: main pipe line Michurynsk-Kremenchuk; republican oil pipeline Mala Pavlyvka-Okhtyrka.
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