Ukraine's natural resources

Ukraine is one of the most abundant countries in the world in terms of natural resources. Its temperate continental climate, similar to that of the Great Plains area, and Mediterranean climate on its southern coast provide the perfect place for agriculture. It has been called “Europe’s breadbasket” because of the abundant crops it grows and exports. In addition to its fertile soil, Ukraine contains about 5 percent of the total mineral resources in the world, with more than eighty types of mineral deposits, providing for large mining, production, and exporting businesses.

The Country

Ukraine is the second-largest country in Europe and the largest European country with its borders entirely within Europe. It is located in the southeast of central Europe and covers an area about the size of the state of Texas or the country of France. It consists of twenty-four regions and one autonomous republic, Crimea. It borders several other countries, giving it a strategic central position in the European area. By land, it borders Belarus, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Slovakia. It also shares a border on the Black Sea with Bulgaria, Georgia, and Turkey. Its entire coastline, including the Black Sea, covers 2,782 kilometers. Ukraine’s landscape is mainly steppe, which is a generally level, treeless plain. Its borders contain the Crimean Mountains on the Crimean Peninsula and the Carpathian Mountains in the western area. These mountains and other areas of Ukraine are covered by forests containing a mixed variety of trees, such as alder, birch, beech, elm, fir, linden, maple, oak, pine, poplar, and willow. However, Ukraine’s thickest forests are not in the mountains but in the Volyn’ Province in the northwest. The country’s main river is the Dnieper, one of the longest rivers in Europe, which gives Ukraine abundant hydroelectric power.

Favorable conditions, abundant soil and arable land, huge tracts of forest, and major deposits give Ukraine an edge in the production of nearly every natural resource. However, its inhabitants rank lower in income than many of its European neighbors, even as its per-capita income rises. It is recognized as having the potential of a major European economy, but its economy suffers from excessive government regulation and corruption; it was further impacted by Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014. Though Ukrainian is the official language, according to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), about 30 percent of the inhabitants speak Russian—especially in the south, east, and north—a holdover from the days when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. Many inhabitants also speak Polish, Romanian, or Hungarian. Though the hryvnia is the official currency, euros are widely accepted. Ukraine is working toward becoming part of the European Union.

A period of heightened tensions between Ukraine and Russia followed the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, which was further exacerbated by gradual Russian military buildup along the Ukrainian border. The situation came to a head in February 2022 when Russia began a military invasion of Ukraine. The resulting conflict hampered the overall production of natural resources in Ukraine, which had both domestic and global ramifications. In the wake of the Russian invasion, worldwide oil and fuel prices increased and food shortages were predicted due to both the invasion and subsequent sanctions placed against Russia, which itself is also a large producer of grain. Additionally, steel prices surged across the European Union (EU) due to the invasion's impact on Ukrainian steel production. By 2025, the war was still being fought.

Arable Land

Ukraine has more natural resources than any other country in Europe, and the most valuable of these is its exceptionally fertile soil, which covers more than one-half of its land. Ukraine’s farmers produce and export a significant percentage of the world’s total exported grains. Agriculture, which employed about 6 percent of the labor force in the country, accounted for about 12 percent of Ukraine’s gross domestic product in 2022, according to the CIA. More than forty types of soil exist in Ukraine, allowing for growth of nearly any type of agricultural product. Much of the soil in Ukraine is chernozem, or black soil, which is considered to be the most fertile soil in the world; Ukraine’s black soil accounts for one-third of the black soil worldwide. Through the areas surrounding the Dnieper and Dniester rivers, this soil reaches widths of 500 kilometers, the only place in the world where it does so, allowing for huge tracts of farming where nearly any type of crop can be grown. Other types of soils in Ukraine include nutrient-rich riverbed soils and various mountain soils in areas such as the Carpathian Mountains.

However, this rich resource is in danger. Removal of the grass cover has led to soil erosion, and excessive use of herbicides and pesticides in farming areas has led to damage to land and water. The Ukrainian government recognizes this risk to its most important resource and has provided incentives for local farmers and large agricultural businesses to conserve this highly prized soil and allow it to continue to grow an abundance of crops.

Coal

Ukrainian coal is known worldwide for its high quality. Most of these high-quality coal are located in the Donets’k coal basin, which contains an area of more than 50,000 square kilometers rich with coal reserves. This region, located in the east-central area of the country, is considered the industrial heartland. It is one of the major mining and metallurgical complexes in all of Europe. Coal reserves throughout Ukraine contain rich reserves of bituminous and anthracite coal, and brown coal reserves are located in the Dnieper River basin. Economic circumstances have forced an evaluation of whether the country's many mines are economically able to continue operations.

Grains

Ukraine’s farmers produce all types of grains, particularly wheat. In 2023, the country produced 22.5 million metric tons of wheat, according to the International Production Assessment Division. Most of the wheat grown in Ukraine is hard red winter wheat or bread wheat. The grains are generally farmed by large agricultural businesses, though winter wheat (planted in the fall and harvested the following summer), which accounts for a significant percentage of the wheat grown in Ukraine, is produced on small farms. Ukrainian wheat is known for its high quality; more than 80 percent of the wheat grown in Ukraine is of milling quality. Wheat is grown throughout the country, but most is grown in the central and south regions. Between July 2018 and January 2019, Ukraine exported 15.6 million metric tons of wheat alone, according to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service.

Barley is another important grain crop but is not as heavily exported as wheat. Spring barley (planted in April and harvested in August) is a main cereal product for Ukrainian and accounts for more than 90 percent of the barley crop. It is mostly grown in eastern Ukraine. Winter barley is grown as well, though it is not as tolerant of the cold as winter wheat and thus can be grown only in the southern areas of Ukraine. Corn, or maize, is the third most commonly grown cereal in Ukraine, mostly in the east and south.

Iron Ore

Ukraine produces many types of metals from its abundant resources of iron ore, including cast iron, pipes, and steel. According to the US Geological Survey, it was the eleventh-largest producer of steel in the world in 2017. That same year, according to the International Trade Administration, it was the eleventh-largest exporter of steel, which represented 17 percent of its exported goods that year. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 along with the sanctions imposed against Russia by other countries negatively impacted the steel industry. The invasion essentially took Ukraine and Russia out of the global steel export market. This upended the market, and steel prices skyrocketed.

The largest iron-ore deposits in the country are located in Kryvyy Rih in the southeast part of Ukraine, but deposits also exist in Kremenchug, Belozerskiy, and Kerch, which host both deep underground and open-pit mines for extraction of iron ore. Ukrainian iron is known for its high iron content. About two hundred major companies extract and process metals and produce pipes and other metallic goods. Ukraine hosts some of the world’s largest steel plants, which make cast iron, steel, steel bars, and steel pipes. Prior to Russia's invasion, these plants were located in cities such as Dnipropetrovs’k, Zaporizhzhya, Donets’k, Makeyevka, and Mariupol’. Iron-ore production reached a high of 114 million metric tons in 1978, when Ukraine provided 15 percent of the world’s iron ore. After that time, because of economic conditions, production steadily dropped until 1999, when it stabilized. The US Geological Survey reported that in 2017, Ukraine was the seventh-largest producer of iron ore.

Oil and Natural Gas

Historically, Ukraine was a major world oil producer. However, most of its oil reserves became exhausted. Oil and natural gas are still found in the Carpathian, Dniprovsko-Donetskyy (Dnieper-Donets), and Prychornomorsko-Krymskyy regions. Previously, Ukraine exported oil to other countries, but as of 2009, it had to import oil to meet its demand. By 2014, the country began to make more efforts to diversify its natural gas supply as it had long relied mainly on Russia for natural gas imports; the need to become less dependent on Russia was exacerbated by the tensions, including economic, heightened by Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and then its invasion in 2022.

Sugar

Ukraine is a major exporter of sugar. Its sugar comes from sugar beets grown mainly in the central and western regions in the forest-steppe area. However, because of its popularity and suitability for small farmers, sugar-beet production is moving farther into the southern areas of Ukraine, where its yields are lower. Historically, the major agricultural enterprises produced sugar beets, but as the demand for and prices of sunflower seeds (for oil), wheat, and other cereals grows, these large businesses have turned to growing those products rather than sugar beets. At the same time, however, small, local or family-run farms have increased production of sugar beets. This is a crop that requires high amounts of manual labor and thus is a better-paying crop for small farmers with limited access to machinery than it is for larger agricultural businesses that must pay workers despite having machinery in place to farm larger crops that produce higher revenue than sugar beets.

Sunflower Seeds

Sunflowers for seeds and oils are a main production crop in southern and eastern regions of Ukraine. These types of crops are relatively inexpensive to grow, but they bring a high price. The demand worldwide is high, so this has become a very profitable crop for Ukrainian farmers. However, the EU blocked imports of sunflower oil from Ukraine when tainted oil was found. The Kiev government has worked to enforce higher standards on producers of sunflower seeds and oils. Another problem has been that as the price and demand for sunflower seeds and oils rise, farmers are less likely to allow their sunflower fields to rest, leading to smaller and smaller production per field. Export taxes on sunflower products have traditionally been high, and the Ukrainian government has worked with other governments to alleviate these taxes and allow Ukrainian farmers to export their sunflower crops at a profit. The USDA Foreign Agricultural Service reported that Ukraine exported 191,000 metric tons of sunflower seeds in the market year of 2016/17.

Other Resources

Ukraine also has significant resources in aluminum, bauxite, chromium, coke, fertilizers, graphite, kaolin clay, magnesium, manganese (especially in the Nikopol’ area), mercury, nickel, phosphate, peat, precious and semiprecious stones, potash, salt, sulfur, timber, titanium, and uranium. Its abundant wealth in natural resources gives it an economic advantage over many of its neighbors.

Because of its extremely fertile soils, Ukraine is a major producer of nearly all types of agricultural products, including wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, millet, buckwheat, cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, apples, grapes, and potatoes. In general, grain production is dominated by large business enterprises, but 90 percent of Ukraine’s fruits and vegetables are grown on small farms. Its farmers also provide cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, poultry, honey, and silk from silkworms. Ukraine’s long coastline and rivers also provide a fishing industry that helps feed Ukraine and provides exports to other countries. Ukraine is also known worldwide as a source of mineral water and medicinal mud treatments.

Hydroelectric power is another valuable in Ukraine. The Dnieper River contains several plants to generate power for the Ukrainian economy. There are also smaller hydroelectric power plants on smaller rivers, and Ukraine is exploring how to increase this valuable and environmentally friendly resource.

Bibliography

Åslund, Anders. How Ukraine Became a Market Economy and Democracy. Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2009.

Banaian, King. The Ukrainian Economy Since Independence. Edward Elgar, 1999.

Galets’kyi, Leonid, editor. An Atlas of the Geology and Mineral Deposits of Ukraine. Translated by Walter Peredery, U of Toronto P, 2007.

Kubicek, Paul. The History of Ukraine. Greenwood Press, 2008.

Motyl, Alexander J. Dilemmas of Independence: Ukraine After Totalitarianism. Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1993.

Reid, Anna. Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine. Westview Press, 1999.

Siedenberg, Axel, and Lutz Hoffman, editors. Ukraine at the Crossroads: Economic Reforms in International Perspective. Physica-Verlag, 1999.

Subtelny, Orest. Ukraine: A History. U of Toronto P, 2009.

2017–18 Minerals Yearbook: Ukraine. US Geological Survey, Jan. 2022, pubs.usgs.gov/myb/vol3/2017-18/myb3-2017-18-ukraine.pdf. Accessed 6 Jan. 2024.

"Ukraine." The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 22 Dec. 2024, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/ukraine/. Accessed 6 Jan. 2024.

Gain Report: Ukraine—Grain and Feed Annual. Foreign Agricultural Service, United States Department of Agriculture, 2020, apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?. Accessed 8 Apr. 2022.

Wilson, Andrew. The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation. 3rd ed., Yale UP, 2009.

World Bank. Ukraine’s Trade Policy: A Strategy for Integration into Global Trade. World Bank, 2005.