Ural Economic Region - Industry

Industry

Ural economic region has a diverse and complex structure of machinery and metal industries. Nation-wide importance have ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, mechanical engineering, chemistry, mining of minerals and natural gas, logging and wood processing. The Ural industry is characterized by the high concentration of production around certain areas, such as transport hubs, close cooperation between different branches and recycling of industrial waste. The timber production is concentrated in the north and agriculture mostly in the south. The areas of the Central Ural regions on the both sides of the Ural Mountains (Sverdlovsk, Nizhny Tagil, Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, Orsk) are dominated by mining and processing of metals and suburban agriculture. The basin of Kama River (Berezniki, Solikamsk, Perm, Krasnokamsk, Chaikovsky) has developed chemical, timber and wood processing industries, machine building and some areas of agriculture (mostly potato, vegetable and dairy products).

Metallurgical industry is one of the oldest in the region and is based on the rich local deposits. Major metalworking enterprises are Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, Nizhniy Tagil Iron and Steel Works and Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant. They process ores not only from the Urals, but also from Kazakhstan and the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, whereas the coking coal for their operation is brought from Kuzbass and Karaganda coal basins. There are also many reconstructed historical plants. More than half of the iron ore for metallurgy comes from deposits of Magnitogorsk, Pervouralsk, Bakalsk and Vysokogorsky Districts. It is used not only for traditional metalworking, but there is also a large-scale production of ferroalloys. A major mining plant was opened near Kachkanar in 1963 to process the abundant titanomagnetite ores of the region.

Ural economic region contains major metallurgical and chemical enterprises of Russia, such as Uralmash, Uralkhimmash, Uralhydromash, etc. There are also major machinery plants producing freight wagons (Nizhny Tagil), cars and motorcycles (Izhevsk, Ural Automotive Plant in Miass), tractors (Chelyabinsk and Orsk), machine-tools (in Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Alapaevsk, etc.). The chemical industry of the region is focused on the production of basic chemicals such as potassium and magnesium salts (Berezniki, Solikamsk), fertilizers (Berezniki, Solikamsk, Perm, Krasnouralsk, etc.), sulfuric acid and sulfur, chlorine and its derivatives. Developed is also production of Coke (fuel), rubber, paint, synthetic fibers and yarns, plastics and resins (Sverdlovsk, Nizhny Tagil, etc.), alcohols (Orsk), as well as petrochemical industry (Perm, Sverdlovsk, Orenburg). Ural is one of the most important Russian mining and processing regions of talc (Miass deposit), magnesite (Satka field) and construction materials. In 1975, it produced 14.6 million tonnes of cement and 6.8 million cubic meters of precast reinforced concrete structures and components. About half of the harvested timber is processed locally, in Perm, Krasnokamsk, Tavda, Krasnovishersk and other cities, mostly for paper (1 million tonnes in 1973), sawn timber and plywood (213,000 m2 in 1973). Unprocessed timber is floated down the Kama to the Volga area.

There is significant mining of coal (in Kizelovsky, Serovsky and Chelyabinsk areas), oil (Kama and Orenburg areas), gas and peat, but it is not sufficient for the industry and therefore Urals imports coal from the Kuzbass and Karaganda, gas (from Western Siberia and Central Asia) and oil. Refining centers are in Perm, Krasnokamsk and Orsk. Orenburg is the center of gas production and has one of Europe's largest gas condensate deposits. Electricity is provided by a network of thermal and hydroelectric power stations and by the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Station. The electrical network is connected to the power grids of the Tyumen and Aktobe regions and the central European parts of Russia.