Nizhny Novgorod Region

Geographic position. Nizhny Novgorod Region is one of the largest regions of the European part of the Russian Federation. Its area is 76,600 sq km

Federal district: Volga

Administrative center: Nizhny Novgorod, distance to Moscow - 439 km

Major cities: Dzerzhinsk, Arzamas, Sarov, Bor, Kstovo, Pavlovo

Population: 3.3 mln people

Population density: 43.8 per sq km

Gross regional product (2007 estimate):RUR 480.2 bln (USD19.6 bln)

Per capita gross regional product (2007 estimate): RUR142,500 (USD5,800)

Primary economic activities. Nizhny Novgorod Region locates centrally on the Russian “automotive map” representing regions with a developed automotive industry: Kaliningrad, Rostov, Chelyabinsk and Perm regions. Other primary economic activities:

• Machine building and metal working have 43,2% of the industrial production. Transport machine building is the most significant. Nizhny Novgorod region produces over 60% of all Russian trucks, 65% of buses and about 5% of cars. ship-building is well-developed (ships, boats, dry-cargo ships), as well as engine building, aircraft construction, aircraft hydraulic actuation systems.
• Ferrous metallurgy has 11,1% of the industrial production. It focuses on open-hearth, steelmaking, ring-rolling and section rolling production, as well as steel pipe and railway wheels production.
• Food industry has 10,9% of the industrial production. It focuses on fat-and-oil, dairy and meat, confectionary production.
• Electric power engineering has 9,5% of the industrial production.
• Chemical and petrochemical industries have 7,7% of industrial production. They focus on production of hydrocarbon feedstock for petrochemical synthesis, ammonia, polyurethane PVC pipes, synthetic alumina, plastic goods and polymer films, pharmaceutics.
• Oil refining. The main oil refining plant of the region is JSC “Lukoil Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez” (Kstovo) which is one of the largest Russian producers and suppliers of high quality motor fuel, lube oils and hydrocarbon feedstock for petrochemical synthesis.
• Defense industry is represented by well developed high technology branches such as aircraft building, ship building, radio electronics, special vehicles, machine building for nuclear power engineering.
• Fuel-energy industry: 6 public power plants and 2 private enterprises, a well developed network of main “Gazprom” transcontinental gas pipelines.

Natural resources: rock salt (over 2,5 bln tons); small deposits of copper, lead, zinc, molybdenum, scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, rare-earth metals; mortar sand, gypsum, anhydrite, turf, sapropel. The region is half covered with forest (pine, spruce, birch, aspen). About 9 thousand rivers flow in the region, the main ones are the Volga, the Oka, the Sura, the Vetluga.

Foreign trade turnover of the region was USD 5.886 bln in 2008. Trade partners are 125 countries including Germany, Finland, Great Britain, Iraq, Hungary, China, Italy. Trade exchange is based on machine building, fuel energy, chemical and metallurgy products.

Tourism. Nizhny Novgorod region is the richest in Russia in craft products (khokhloma, Gorodets painting, gold embroidery, laces). There is a number of wildlife preservations. Religious tourism is well developed as well (Diveevo, Sarov, Makariev, Gorodets).