SOVIET FOREIGN TRADE IN 1960

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T01003A001100260002-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 9, 2000
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: November 20, 1961
• Content Type: BRIEF

Approved For Release 2000/05/12 : CIA-RDP79T01003AO01100260002-9
CIA/RR CB-61-59
25X1 C
Copy No.- 28
20 November 1961
CURRENT SUPPORT BRIEF
SOVIET FOREIGN TRADE IN 1960
OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND REPORTS
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This report represents the immediate views of the
originating intelligence components of the Office
of Research and Reports. Comments are solicited.
W-A-R-N-I-N-G
This document contains information affecting the national defense of
the United States, within the meaning of the espionage laws, Title 18
USC, Sections 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which
in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
S-E-C-R-E-T
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SOVIET FOREIGN TRADE IN 1960
Details of Soviet foreign trade in 1960 have just been released
in the annual edition of the Soviet foreign trade handbook. 1/ Total
Soviet foreign trade increased from $10,514 million in 1959 To $11,191
million in 1960--a relatively modest increase of 6.4 percent compared
with the more than 20 percent increase in the previous ear and 'the
13 percent average annual increase during the'period 1955-1959. Soviet
trade with China declined almost $400 million, offsetting the substan-
tial increase in trade with the European Satellites and resulting, in
only a one percent increase in Soviet trade with other members of the
Sino-Soviet Bloc. The increase in over-all Soviet trade was, there-
fore, largely attributable to a 22 percent increase in trade with the
Free World. The almost $600 million increase in Soviet-Free World
trade was due largely to increased imports from the industrialized and
the underdeveloped countries and resulted in unusually large trade
deficits with both these areas.
The relatively small increase in Soviet foreign trade in 1960 of
$677 million, following a $1.9 billion increase in 1959, reflected
chiefly the sharp decline--19 percent--in trade with China. Because
of domestic economic difficulties, Chinese exports to the Soviet Union
declined from $1,100 million in 1959 to $848 million in 1960. This re-
duced the Chinese export surplus to the USSR to only $31 million-?-a sum
considerably smaller than that necessary to finance Chinese indebted-
ness to the Soviet Union. The shortfall in Chinese exports was concen-
trated largely in agricultural raw materials, including textile raw
materials, rubber, soy beans, rice, and meat, but also included such
Items as tin, ores and concentrates, and cloth.
Soviet trade with its European Satellites continued to increase
in 1960, with Soviet exports of fuels and industrial raw materials in-
creasing more or less as planned. More than half of the $300 million
increase in Soviet imports from the Satellites consisted of machinery
and equipment, especially transport equipment, and there was an in-
crease of more than $50 million in manufactured consumer goods. The
smaller Soviet export surplus in 1960
$430 million in 1959) reflects, among o($300 millio with
ther things, reduceddSatellite
drawings on previously extended Soviet credits and increased Satellite
credit repayments.
The 22 percent increase in Soviet trade with the Free World--from
$2,700 million in 1959 to $3,287 million in 1960--pushed the share of
non-Bloc countries to almost 30 percent of Soviet total trade, the
largest since 1948. More than 80 percent of the $587 million increase
resulted from expanded imports from the area,
million in imports from countries of the countriAn of
es of the Ilargely4attri-
butable to accelerated Soviet
combined with an increase of only of machinery, steel, and pipe,
combined cotton y $116 million in Soviet exports (more d other raw
essed resulted in a uniquerSovietnimport surplusdofealm ostc$100 millional,e)
More than three-fourths of the increase in Soviet trade withthis?area
was accounted for by West Germany, the US, Japan, the UK, and Italy,
and substantial import surpluses were incurred in trade with the first
two countries as well as with France.
An increase of $237 million in Soviet trade with the underdeveloped
countries was primarily due to the large volume of trade conducted with
Cuba, which amounted to $175 million in 1960 compared with $7 million
.in 1959. Soviet imports from the underdeveloped areas increased more
rapidly than exports, with a resultant import surplus of $262 million,
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the highest in recent years.. Larger imports from Cuba, Egypt, and
Ghana, among others, accounted for much of this increase. For example,
the Soviet Union imported almost 1.5 million tons of sugar from Cuba
in 1960 as compared with 133,000 tons in 1959. Other increased imports
of note were those of cotton (Egypt), coffee (Brazil), and cocoa , (Ghana) .
Exports of machinery and equipment expanded by about $25 million, but
this category accounted for less than one-third of total Soviet exports
to the area--the same share as in 1959. Exports of more than 2 million
tons of petroleum to Cuba more than offset reduced deliveries to Egypt,
Argentina, and Uruguay.
The disappearance of the traditional Soviet export surplus with
industrialcoountries, coupled with an unusually large import surplus
with underdeveloped areas, has undoubtedly contributed to a deteriora-
tion in the Soviet balance of payments position with the Free World in
general. Continued heavy purchases in the Industrial West in 1961
apparently motivated exports of Soviet gold amounting to about $225
million during the first half of this year, the largest volume in a
six-month period since World War II.
SOVIET FOREIGN TRADE IN 1959 AND 1960
(Millions of Current $US)
Expor s
Total 5,441
Soviet Bloc 4,078
European Satellites 2,950
China 955
Other Bloc 173
Free World 1,363
Industrial West 856
Underdeveloped Countries 389
Unaccounted For 118
Total 5,562
Soviet Bloc 4,083
European Satellites 3,120
China 817
Other Bloc 147
Free World 1,480
Industrial West 972
Underdeveloped Countries 469
Unaccounted For 38
1959
Im orts Turnover
5,073
Balance
3,736 7,814 + 342
2,520 5,470 + 430
1,100 2,055 - 145
117 290 + 56
1,337 2,700 + 26
756 1,612 + 100
574 963 - 185
6 124
1960
5,629 11,191 - 67
3,822 7,905 + 263
2,819 5,939 + 301
848 1,665 - 31
154 301 - 7
1,808 3,287 - 329
1,070 2,042 - 98
731 1,200 - 262
7 45
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Analyst: 25X1A
Source
1. Ministry of Foreign Trade, USSR, Vnes,,h'nyaya Torgovlya Soyuza SSR
za 1960 god (Foreign Trade of the U a' in 3.960). Moscow `1961. U,
20 November 1961 CIA/RR CB-61-59
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