IMPORT AND EXPORT OF COAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A061700420001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: February 8, 1962
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP80T00246A061700420001-0
This material contains information a
18, U.B.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the tra
COUNTRY Poland
as unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
SUBJECT Import and Export of Coal DATE DISTR.
( ~~Rq ~~d re6~cues ir. a~.11, P"Acar
NO. PAGES
DATE OF
INFO.
PLACE &
DATE ACQ.
50X1-HUM
information on the Polish eonj ;,,rj?c+,...
coal, Polish import of combustibles, im ort andeexpportoofbcombustibles,
average prices of Polish er,Aa
_Istatistics on the followings Poli h
50X1-HUM
S-E-C-R-E-T
(Note:. Washington distribution indicated by "X"; Field distribution
INFORMATION REPORT
LNSA
FEB 1962
1
IA I x I QRR'
INFORMATION REPORT
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 50X1-HUM
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP80T00246AO61700420001-0
22 December 1961
SUBJECT: Import and Export of Polish Coal
1. Attached are four tables of statistics dealing with the
import and export of Polish coal.
2. coal, which has in the past comprised
a major portion of Poland's export trade (43.7% of exports in dollar
value in 1956), has steadily declined until in 1960 it accounted for
only 21.7% of exports in dollar value.
probably reached a plateau in its coal
increase its export tonnage. However,
Poland has 50X1-HUM
export and is not able to greatly
the decline in the free market
price of coal (from an average of 12.30 in 1958 to 8.68 per ton in 1960)
poses a major problem to Polish efforts to obtain Western credits. Also
aggrfvating this problem is the USSR's continual pressure to divert
more and more exports to the Bloc area. The USSR would like to see
60-70% of Polish exported coal going to the Bloc. The Poles thus far
have been able to persuade the Soviets of the need for foreign credits
maintaining approximately a 50/50 balance between trade with the West
and with the Bloc. Under Stalin this situation was not tolerated and
Poland was in those days ordered to divert coal to the Sov Bloc. This
problem can now be negotiated but Poland in the last analysis is always
subject to
3.
ton insid
economic pressure from the USSR.
relative stability of the price per
eraged $16.12 in 1958, $16.10 in 1959
and $16.06 in 1960. A CEMA committee established the Bloc coal price
in circa 1956 based on the international coal price as of 1953 or 1954
less 10-15% to incourage intra-Bloc trade. The small variations in
price from year to year are due primarily to sorting by size.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP80T00246AO61700420001-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP80T00246AO61700420001-0
4. Despite its large coal production and export, Poland has little
coal suitable for coke and has had to rely heavily on imports to keep
its coking ovens and furnaces in operation. Apparently 50X1-HUM
he CEMA planners in planning construction of coke oven and 50X1-HUM
blast furnace facilities failed initially to consider the fact that coke
requires a special type of coal presently unavailable in Poland.
(457,200 tons of coking coal were imported by Poland during the first
half of 1961). The Poles hoped at first to relieve the coking coal
problem by importing coal
50X1-HUM
A 40-60 mixture, was the limit of profitability.
5. Polish coking coal of good quality has now been located in
the southern part of Poland along the Czech border and approximately
15 mines are under construction in that area. By 1963-64 the first of
these mines should be in production, thus relieving the pressure on
importing. By 1965-6~
it will no longer be
necessary for Poland to import coking coal. Total production from this
new mining complex is estimated at 1-2 million tons per year.
6. The importation oflBrowncoal (b?ickettes), listed in Table II,
is almost entirely derived from shipping Polish ~rowx oal across the
border into East Germany where it is pressed into brickettes and then
returned to Poland.
7. The statistics concerning export of Polish coal to the USSR,
listed in Table I, misleading as only a very 50X1-HUM
small portion of this coal actually goes to the USSR. The USSR directs
this coal to other East Bloc countries and it never enters Soviet terri-
tory. What negligible amounts of coal the USSR does import from Poland
is 60% run-of-the-mine and 40% sorted, primarily for use on railroads and
in electric power production almost exclusively along the Polish/USSR
border which is far removed from the sources of USSR coal.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP80T00246AO61700420001-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP80T00246AO61700420001-0
POLISH EXPORT OF BITUMINOUS COAL
(in millions of tons)
TO 1945-59 1960 1st Half 1961
East Bloc Countries 184.4 8.5 4.3
including USSR 104.- 4.5 2.4
DDR 35.2 2.- .8
CSR 38.7 1.4 .7
OTHERS 6.5 .6 .4
Central European
Countries
All-Others 11.8 COKE 1.2 COKE
.7 COKE
Total Export 301.6 25.6 17.5 2.1 8.: 1.
includes East Bloc 184.4 20.7 8.5 1.9 4.3 .9
All Others 117-.2 4.9 9.- .2 3.7 .1
(The figures for coke export listed in the totals are not included in the
total bituminous but are in addition to it.)
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TABLE II
POLISH IMPORT OF COMBUSTIBLES
(in thousands of tons)
1959
1960
1st Half 1961
Brown Coal (Brickettes)
1,313.2
409.1
398.4
Coking Coal *
895.3
775.9
457.2
Raw Petroleum
692.5
713.9
No Figures
Coke No Imports
Other Liquid Combustibles 1,510.9
(Gasoline, Kerosene,
Parafin, etc)
No Imports
1,790.1 No Figures
# ?lnost allocoking coal, types 34-27, presently imported by Poland cones
from the USSR. The tonnage amounts to approximately 3/L million tons
annually. Three or four years ago Poland, on a one-tine purchase basis
obtained 350,000 tons of coking coal from East Germany.
from East Germany.
At the present time Poland is importing no coking coal
50X1-HUM
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP80T00246AO61700420001-0
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TABLE III
IMPORT AND EXPORT OF POLISH COMBUSTIBLES
(Expressed in Millions of Dollars)
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
Total Polish Exports
985.
977.
1
059
1045
1
,
.
-
,325.
Above total includes combustible
solids (coal, coke, brickettes,
browncoal) in following amounts
430.
383.
306.
278.
279.
Percentage of Total Exports
represented by solid combustibles
43.7%
39.3%
28.9%
24.9%
21.7%
Combustible solids export
represented by coal only
372.-
305.
234.
212.
215.-
Using 1956 as base for coal export
100.-
82.
63.
57.
58.
Total Polish Imports
1
022.
1
252
1
226
1
1
,
,
.
,
.
,4
9.
1,495.
Total includes combustibles and
electric power import in
following amounts
48.
79.
85.
114.
Using 1956 as base for
combustibles and electric power
import
100.-
164.5
177.4
237.5
241.6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP80T00246AO61700420001-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP80T00246AO61700420001-0
TABLE IV
AVERAGE PRICE OF POLISH COAL EXPORTS
(in Dollars per Ton)
1958
1959
160
AVERAGE PRICE OBTAINED
13.80
13044
12
26
.
Average includes following prices
obtained in East Bloc
16.10
16.06
Average includes following prices
obtained in other countries
12.30
10.25
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP80T00246AO61700420001-0