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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.
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