IT and software development in Ukraine derives from a long history of being a technical region of the ex-Soviet Union. The strong educational ground provided by a number of universities, has supplied the industry with superior skills and plausible international competitiveness. Among the other factors of industry success is the cost of labour. In Ukraine, usual hourly rates for programmers are € 8-12. Although they are little bigger than Indian ones, they are still 1.5 times lesser than in Russia and several times lesser than European costs.
Ukrainian IT-services export in 2003 was estimated to be € 55 million, 40 % more in comparison with 2002. The market prospects for 2005 were to be € 118 million; that is three times more in three years. Among the IT outsourcing projects, Germany has a lead in exploiting the Ukrainian programmers whilst Danish enterprises invest directly into local sites for software development.
Machine-building is the largest Ukrainian industrial sector. It employs the larger part of nation’s workforce and generates the biggest capital investments. Transport machine building, including railway transport, automobile, aircraft and ship building, is gaining momentum as a priority development sector in Ukraine.
The largest machine-building sub-sectors are instrument-making, tractor and agricultural machinery building, electric engineering, automobile building, chemical and petrochemical engineering, and machine-tool construction.
Agriculture and food processing industries are well developed in Ukraine as the production of main food supplies per capita used to be at the level of the leading countries of the world. Here, you find extensive areas of fruitful soil for grain and vegetable growing. Of Ukraine's total land area of 60 million hectares, roughly 42 million is classified as agricultural land, which includes cultivated land (grains, technical crops, forages, potatoes, vegetables, and fallow), gardens, orchards, vineyards, and permanent meadows and pastures. The flat landscape offers opportunities for not only green plantations but also for domestic animal farms (poultry and red meats).
Extensive growing of wheat, barley, corn, sunflower seed and sugar beets indicate the main sub-sectors of food processing in Ukraine. The leading consumer good is sugar. Even though, a lot of the raw material production is used in the local food processing, approximately 70% of it is exported else where (primarily Canada).
Chemicals and pharmaceuticals make another biggest industry in Ukraine, employing a significant part of nation’s labour. The industry provides the basis for an extensive use of chemical technologies and man-made materials locally. This sector ensures scientific and technical progress, and increases the efficiency of many industrial sectors, agriculture and construction. With an experience in producing mineral fertilizers to supply the former Soviet Union, the chemical industry is already a developed multi-branch industrial sector in Ukraine.
The three major sub-sectors include chemical, petrochemical and chemical-pharmaceutical. Among the range of industrial as well as consumer products supplied by the industry are car and motor-cycle tires, mineral fertilisers, non-organic acids and soda, synthetic resins, plastic masses, chemical fibre, man-made caoutchouc and threads.
