Geographic Information

Area - 27,200 sq. km.
Population - 2,590,000

The Zaporizhia oblast is located in the southeastern part of Ukraine. A strategic location of the oblast is emphasized by its equal distance from European and Asian markets. Its area makes 4.5% of that of Ukraine. The oblast stretches for 208 km from the north to the south and for 235 km from the east to the west. The oblast's south is washed by the Sea of Azov, whose shoreline within the oblast's boundaries exceeds 300 km. The Dnipro, the European third longest river, an important transport waterway, flows in the oblast's territory. The oblast is characterized by a plain landscape.

Residents of the Zaporizhia oblast make over 4% of the Ukrainian population. The urban population is 1574,600, and the rural 484,000. In the administrative territorial respect, the oblast includes 20 districts, 5 regional subordination and 9 district subordination towns, 23 town type settlements and 920 villages.

The Zaporizhia oblast is highly urbanized. Town residents make over 75% of population, 57% of the whole oblast's population reside in three largest towns: Zaporizhia, Melitopol, and Berdiansk. An insignificant outflow of manpower from towns to villages has been observed recently.

The oblast takes a leading place in Ukraine in the variety and wealth of mineral raw material resources. It has considerable resources of iron and manganese ores. 25 various mineral resources are available in the oblast, 131 deposits have been explored, 64 of which are exploited. The oblast's share in total mineral resources of Ukraine is: pegmatite 88.06%, apatite 63.42%; manganese ore 69.1%, secondary kaolin  22.9%, iron ores 10%, and refractory clays 8.6%.

Climatic conditions are maximally favorable for development of agriculture, recreation, health resort rest and tourism.back to top

Agriculture

The agricultural output in 1996 made 3.2% of the total agricultural production in Ukraine. The farmland area in the oblast is 2240.7 thousand hectares (5.4% of the Ukrainian farmlands), it includes 1903.6 thousand hectares of arable land and 263.4 thousand hectares of irrigated land. The sectional structure of agricultural production is as follows: plant growing 49.6%, animal husbandry 50.4%. Main commercial products are grain and sunflower seeds. Southern districts specialize in gardening. Productive cattle, pig, and poultry breeding is well developed. 321 (1,370,000 hectares) of 395 agricultural enterprises of the oblast have been shared among their workers.

The oblast has 1,878 registered private farms, which have at their disposal 70,9 thousand hectares of farmland, including 67.2 thousand hectares of arable land.

gardening. Productive cattle, pig, and poultry breeding is well developed. 321 (1,370,000 hectares) of 395 agricultural enterprises of the oblast have been shared among their workers.

The oblast has 1,878 registered private farms, which have at their disposal 70,9 thousand hectares of farmland, including 67.2 thousand hectares of arable land. back to top

Foreign Economic Relations
Among factors of the investment interest in the oblast is a high educational level of population. 15% of the population aged from 25 to 64 have higher education and 78% have secondary education, this greatly exceeds similar indicators of many developed European countries. It's due to great demand of high technology industrial enterprises of the oblast of efficient specialists.

As of 1 January 1998 direct foreign investments in the oblast's economy made $48,500,000 from 41 countries of the world and about $100,000,000 of credit.

Among enterprises with foreign capital the most successfully functioning are the close joint stock company "Iveco Motor Sich", whose cofounder is the Italian company "IVECO" (the foreign investment is $3,400,000 ), the public joint stock company "Brewery and Beverage Plant "Slavutich", that received $10,000,000 from the Swedish company "Baltic Beverages Holding AB" and the close joint stock company "Dniprorudnenskyi Integrated Iron Ore plant", that got 17,900,000 from the Slovak company "MINERFIN a. s.".    The Korean "Daewoo Corporation" together with the public joint stock company "AvtoZAZ" are working over the establishment of a joint passenger car manufacturing enterprise, an agreement on a joint activity was reached in March 1998. The Korean partner is supposed to invest $1,300,000,000 into this project.back to top

Industry

The industrial output of the oblast (in current prices) makes up 8.2% of the total industrial output in Ukraine. The Zaporizhia oblast is a major producer of electric power, high quality steels, ferroalloys, nonferrous metals, abrasives, cables, power transformers, various equipment and machinery, including the farm machinery and passenger cars.

The largest share of the total industrial output among sectors have the heavy industry plants: power industry and metallurgical complex (76%), machine building and metalworking (13%), food and processing industry (7%). The share of other sectors, including the chemical and petrochemical, light and glass industries is 4%. Tens of developments can be named, whose level is higher than ucts.

The number of enterprises in the oblast is 239. More than 25% of the whole electric power in Ukraine are generated in the Zaporizhia oblast, its main producer is Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. The oblast's metallurgical complex comprises ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy enterprises, including joint stock companies "Zaporishstal", "Dniprospetsstal", "Zaporizhia Ferroalloy Works", "Zaporishkoks", "Zaporizhia Integrated Aluminium Works", "Ukrgrafit" and Zaporizhia titanium  magnesium plant.

The machine building in the oblast is characterized by a high technology production and is mainly oriented at manufacture of aircraft engines (public joint stock company "Motor Sich"), passenger cars (public joint stock company "AvtoZAZ") and transformers (public joint stock company "Zaporishtransformator"). The leading enterprises of the sector are also public joint stock companies "Azovkabel" (cables) and "Pivdenhidromash" (hydraulic machines). In view of a considerable agricultural output an important place is held by food processing enterprises, which include public joint stock companies "Zaporizhia meat processing plant" and "Melitopol meat processing plant" as well as the joint stock company "Zaporizhia integrated oil and fat plant". Light industry enterprises of the oblast manufacture garments and knitted articles (the largest of them are public joint stock companies "Selena" and "Elegant"), footwear, washing machines, tape recorders, and furniture. back to top

Transport and Communication The oblast has all types of transport communications: motor, railway, air, and water transport. Most important transport enterprises of the oblast include the Berdiansk trading seaport, the Zaporizhia river port, and the "Zaporizhia" international airport. All communication types are developed in the oblast. The oblast has a developed telephone network. Mobile and pager communication systems are intensively developing. There are several electronic mail servers. The "Internet" system s accessible in the "on-line" mode. The oblast has a developed network of trading, public catering and consumer services establishments. back to top