1. Steppes and plains compose the most part of the territory of Ukraine (95 per cent). The top-soils are mainly black. They are the biggest treasure of the Ukrainian land. Twenty five per cent of the world's black rich soils are in Ukraine. Together with the fact, that Ukraine's climate is mainly moderately continental, and the sediments are 300 — 600 millimetres, it allows for considerable progress in agricultural production after the village is reoriented towards the market economy.
2. In Ukraine they grow sugar beets, wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, sunflower, hemp, flax, buckwheat, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, cabbages, also a large variety of grain cultures, fruit and vegetables. Ukraine has about 30 thousand hectares of land under cultivation. Grain production is almost 1 ton per person. Sugar beet production per person is 1000 kg (in France — 415, in Germany — 332, in Hungary — 450). Ukraine produces 100 kg sugar per person (France —65, Germany — 60, the USA —25).
3. Sugar can be called white gold (in the world market it costs 250 US dollars per ton). This product can bring great profits to Ukraine's state treasury. Annual meat production is about 70 kg per person (in the USA — 120, in Hungary — 160, in Germany — 95, in Poland — 75). By carrying out a land reform to create a great number of farms whose activities the state would promote, could lay a foundation for Ukraine's transition to a market economy.
4. All towns and villages of Ukraine are connected by a wide net of highways. Oil and gas pipelines of international significance go through the territory
of Ukraine. Fees from transit oil pipelines pay for most of the imported oil.
Natural and human resources are sufficient for creating a developed internal
market and becoming a friendly and equal partner in the world market. There
is a very reason to believe that Ukraine will quickly enter the family of Europe's
leading countries.
5. Ukraine completely satisfies its needs in iron, manganese and titanium ores, as well as rock salt, cement, gypsum, mineral paints, heat resistant clays, bromine, graphite, mercury and uranium. Deposits of ammonium, nickel, poly-metallic and magnesium ores were discovered and developed industrially. These resources can be exported. To satisfy her needs the country has to import potassium salts, dolomite, phosphoxites, apatites, as well as clay soil, fluorite and feldspar.
6. In the Donetsk coal basin a 50 million tons supply of anthracite coal was discovered. This is a big reserve, taking into account that during the whole history of coal mining (almost 150 years) in Donbas almost 10 billion tons of coal were already extracted. Ukraine's annual coal extracting is 150 million tons. Industrial development of rich deposits of brown coal, combustible slates and peat is being carried out. Exploration of new deposits of oil is being carried out which will improve the situation considerably.
7. Ukraine produces about 300 billion kw/hours of electrical energy. The biggest part (25 per cent) is produced at nuclear power plants (in the USA — 18 per cent, in Japan — 23 per cent).
8. Ukraine's main importers of oil and gas are Russia and Turkmenistan. The importance of rock-coal in the energy balance is decreasing, and this tendency will continue in the future because the layers are located very deep and their becomes more and more costly. At the same time, Russia and Turkmenistan showed themselves to be unreliable partners. That is why Ukraine should parallely orient itself on other oil and gas importers, and pay more attention to regenerational sources of energy: solar,wind, hydrothermal, and even more attention to resources and energy saving technologies.
Notes to the text:
1.sediment ['sedimәnt] — îïàäè, îñàäêè; îñàäî÷íà ïîðîäà, â³äêëàäåííÿ
2. rye — æèòî
3. barley ['ba:li] — ÿ÷ì³íü
4. oat [out] — îâåñ
5. hemp [hemp] — êîíîïëÿ
6. buckwheat — ãðå÷èõà
7. friendly and equal partner — äðóæí³é òà ð³âíîïðàâíèé ïàðòíåð
8. manganese — ìàðãàíåöü
9. gypsum ['dzipsәm] — ã³ïñ
10. bromine ['broumi:n] — áðîì
11. mercury — ðòóòü
12. feldspar ['feldspa:] — ïîëüîâèé øïàò
13. peat [pi:t] — òîðô
14. solar ['soulә] — ñîíÿ÷íèé