IV.

Economy

As the source of most of Russia’s oil and natural gas, Siberia plays a major role in the country’s struggling free-market economy. Three-quarters of Russia's hard-currency receipts come from the sale of petroleum products abroad. Nevertheless, the remoteness of many of Siberia’s oil and gas deposits makes access and transport expensive. The Russian government has encouraged companies from other countries, including Japan and South Korea, to invest in projects to develop Siberia’s raw materials.

From its widely dispersed sources of raw materials, Siberia's industries produce metal and metal products, textiles, vehicles, agricultural equipment, and construction materials. Industrial areas include the Kuznetsk Basin, the Yenisey River valley, and the Lena River valley near Yakutsk. Noril’sk is a major center for metal production.

Farming in Siberia is limited mainly to the west and southwest, where wheat, rye, oats, barley, and sunflowers are cultivated intensively. A prosperous dairy industry, which developed in the early 20th century, is located in this area. Farther east, potatoes, grain, sugar beets, and flax are grown, and in the far eastern part of the region, people herd reindeer for their milk, flesh, and hides. Siberia also has significant lumber and fishing industries.

The backbone of Siberia’s transportation system is the Trans-Siberian Railroad (completed in 1905), which is now supplemented by the Turkistan-Siberian line (1931), the South Siberian line (early 1950s), the Central Siberian line (1980), and the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM; 1989). Because constructing roads and railroads on permafrost is difficult, air transportation has become increasingly important in supplementing Siberia's overworked railroads. A number of Siberia’s airports are located along the Trans-Siberian Railroad at Tyumen’, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, and near the Chinese border at Khabarovsk. Other airports include one at Yakutsk and one at Magadan, a port city on the Sea of Okhotsk.