Industry

By the mid-1980s, Ukraine had an established multi-sector, developed industry covering some 20 major industries, including power generation, fuels, ferrous and non-ferrous extraction and processing, chemicals and petrochemicals, gas, machine-building, metal-working, forestry, woodworking, pulp&paper, building materials, light industry, and food processing. By 1990, around 300 billion kWh of energy, more than 100 million t of iron ore were being mined, and some 40 million tones of rolled steel stock and 6.5 million t of steel pipes were coming out of domestic steelmills. Ukraine was producing around 37,000 metal -cutting machinetools a year, and more than 100,000 tractors.

Today, Ukraine has four atomic energy stations, in addition to 47 thermo-electric stations with a total power output of 32.4 thousand MW, 6 large hydroelectric stations on the Dnipro, and 55 smaller power stations on lesser rivers.

In the coal-mining industry, more than 300 mines are operating today in the country’s three coal-mining regions. Ukraine produces only 5.5 million t of its own oil, but its complex network of pipelines supports the operation of 10 petroleum plants. Ukraine’s gas pipelines carry Russian gas to Central and Western Europe.

Some 200 major enterprises operate in the extraction and processing of metals and in producing pipes and rolling stock. These include the world largest steel plants making cast iron, steel, rolled stock, steel bars and pipes in Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Makiyivka, Mariupol and other cities.

The mechanical engineering sector includes enterprises involved in metals, oil, chemical, mining, power generating, railway stock (locomotives, passenger cars, tank-cars, and so on), road construction and vehicles (ships, aircraft, cars, urban transport), machinery and equipment for agriculture, the light and food industries, metal-cutting machine tools, and instrumentation.

Zaporizhzhia’s Motor-Sich plant manufactures aircraft engines for all the CIS. One of the world largest aerospace concerns, Pivdenniy, operates out of Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv’s turbines are known around the world. A high-capacity chemical plant is located in the city of Kalush.

Much of Ukraine’s industry is concentrated in the Donetsk Basin, also called the Donbas, where there are rich deposits of coal and iron ore. In addition, the Kryviy Rih area is noted for its iron-ore mines, the Nikopol area for manganese ore, and the Zakarpattia region for petroleum, salt and natural gas deposits.

Ukraine’s iron and steel industries are very important segments in the economy. Other major industries include food and beverages, non-electrical equipment, fabricated metal products, and industrial chemicals. Manufactured items include tractors, motor vehicles, rubber tires, refrigerators, washing machines, televisions, radio and electronic equipment, aluminum products, textiles, and shoes. Sugarbeet processing, winemaking and distilling are the chief food processing industries. Kyiv is known for its flour and textile mills, sugar refineries, glassworks, and tobacco factories.  L’viv is known for its breweries and distilleries and Odesa for its shipyards.

Ukraine has a sizable industry devoted to chemical products. This includes the manufacture of mineral fertilizers, sulfuric acid, coke products, synthetic fibers, caustic soda, and petrochemicals. The industrial plants are mainly in Kyiv, Korosten, Sumy, and Fastiv.

The country’s industry includes more than 10,000 state and joint stock enterprises, and hundreds of private and community-owned SMEs that were established over the last decade in various industries.