Chelyabinsk Region
The Chelyabinsk Region is part of the Urals Federal District. Its administrative centre is Chelyabinsk, which is located 1,919 kilometres from Moscow.
The region is located in central Eurasia and covers the southern Ural Mountains. It borders Europe and Asia and its cities and towns are located in both areas.
The region has a territory of 88,500 square metres, stretching 490 kilometres from the north to the south and 400 kilometres from the west to the east.
Its population is 3.4 million, with Russians accounting for 80% of this figure. Two other large nationalities are Tatars and Bashkirs. Eighty-two percent of the people reside in urban areas. Over 1 million reside in the city of Chelyabinsk.
The region is traversed by the M5, M36 and M51 federal motorways and the South Urals Railway. The railway is part of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which passes through the region.
The local economy is dominated by metallurgy, which produces about 60% of the regional industrial output. From last January to November, the production index in the metallurgical and metalware goods industries reached 106.3%. An increase was observed in steel pipe (32.7%), nickel (8.4%), zinc (4.1%), rolled product (3.3%) and refined copper (1.2%) production. The greatest production growth was noted at the Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (37.7%), the Zlatoust Metallurgical Plant (29.4%), Karabashmed (22%), the Asha Metallurgical Plant (14%), Ufaleynikel (8.3%) and the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Plant (3.5%).
The territory is rich in natural resources. From January to November 2011, the production index in major fuel and energy minerals extraction industries was 17.9% more than in the same period in 2010, including the production index for black and brown coal and peat extraction, which reached 17.9%. The Chelyabinsk Region is Russia's major producer and processor of graphite (95%), magnesite (95%), furnace dolomite (71%) and talcum (70%).
Fixed investments from January to September 2011 reached 105.9 billion roubles overall, or a 7.5% increase compared to the same period in 2010 as regards constant prices. Foreign investments in the same period reached $2.7 billion roubles (a 7.8% increase).
From January to February 2011, new production facilities opened in the region. The largest were the first line of the "2000" mill for hard-rolled and zinced rolled metal production at the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Plant, Power Generating Unit Three at the Chelyabinsk Thermal Power Station run by the Fortum energy firm, the second construction stage of the Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant's Vysota-239 electro-welded pipe facility for producing longitudinally welded and single-joint electro-welded pipes for onshore and offshore pipelines, and other facilities.
From January to October 2011, the average monthly payable salary in the region was 19,544.2 roubles – a 15.5% increase compared to the same period in 2010.
