SOVIET FOREIGN TRADE IN 1960

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Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP79T01003A001100260002-9
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RIPPUB
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S
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4
Document Creation Date: 
November 16, 2016
Document Release Date: 
March 9, 2000
Sequence Number: 
2
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Publication Date: 
November 20, 1961
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BRIEF
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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 S-E-C-R-E-T Approved For Release 2000/05/12 : CIA-RDP79T01003AO01100260002-9 Approved For Release 2000/05/12 : CIA-RDP79TO1003AO01100260002-9 S-E-C-R-E-T 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, 20 November 1961 25X1C CIA/RR CB-61- 5 9 ?2 Page 2 S--E-C-R-E-T Approved For Release 2000/05/12 : CIA-RDP79T01003AO01100260002-9 Approved For Release 2000/05/12 : CIA-RDP79T01003AO01100260002-9 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 25X1 C 20 November 1961 CI~1/RR CB-61-59 S-E-C-R-E-T Page 3 Approved For Release 2000/05/12 : CIA-RDP79T01003AO01100260002-9 Approved For Release 2000/05/12 : CIA-RDP79T01003AO01100260002-9 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 Page 3 Approved For Release 2000/05/12 : CIA-RDP79T01003AO01100260002-9