SOCIETE AFRICAINE DES ETABLISSEMENTS RONDON / COTTON PRODUCTION AND GINNING FACILITIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00423R001900760001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 2, 1998
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 17, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 1999W/24: CIA-RDP83-00423 ROO19007600 7
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I A
PREPARED AND DISSEMINATED BY
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
COUNTRY
French Equatorial Africa
Societe Africaine des EtablI'S sements Rondon
Cotton Production and Ginning Facilities
DATE ACQUIRED (By source)
27 Apr 55
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g es pro lellls. The river is w-vigable only five
months of the year, December through April, inclusive.
This Hnn
2. '~Christophe speaks very little English, but we got along in good fashion.
He has Just come in from French Indo-China to take charge of the Brazzaville
office; and he is a very likeable chap. He is interested in developing
their machinery section and cutting down on their work on consumer goods.
The Brazzaville office is the head office for all of French Equatorial Africa.,
and they have major branch offices at Pointe Noire (the sea port) and. at
Bangui, the largest town in French Equatorial Africa other than Brazzaville.
They have several minor oujosts, but Christophe says that these are hardly
worth mentioning.
3? "There is some 40 thousand to 50 thousand bales of cotton being raised here
along the Ubangui River and adjacent to the Belgian Congo and the Sudan. As
you can see, there is not much opportunity to sell, vast quantities of our gin
machinery, but still there may be an occasional small order from that area.
Most of the ginneries are quite small, using gin-stands of 10, 60 and up to
80 saws, but averaging only one or two gin-stands per ginnery. So, this can
only be a market for some of our very smallest plantation type ginneries of
one or two stands per plant.
The cotton produced in French Equatorial Africa is of our typical Upland type,
and the fibres are around one inch in length. The cotton is raised by the
natives on relatively small tracts of land, and no great increase in produc-
tion is anticipated, although the French always have many beautiful projects
planned on~pa_, per. All of the cotton is ginned at these small ginneries, and
is then brought by various means to the shores of the Ubangui River and is
concentrated at Bangui. From Bangui the cotton is shipped by river steamer
down to Brazzaville, from which point it is put on the little train which
runs from Brazzaville down to Pointe Noire. Thus: you can see that transporta-
tion is one of their rent t
DATE OF INFORMATION (Date or dates, on or between which,
events or conditions described in report existed)
27 Apr 55
This material contains Information affecting the
National Defense of the United States within the
meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title 18, U. S. C.
Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation
of which in any manner to an unauthorized per-
son is prohibited by law. 25X1 A2q
NO. OF PAGES
2
5X1A2g
1. "In Brazzaville I called on Mr Max Christophe, the local manager of Societe
Africaine des Etablissements Rondon which is located at Boite Postal No 2012,
Brazzaville, French Equatorial Africa.
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 Approved For Release 1999QP/24 : CIA-RDP83-00423 R001900760cU7
*t'hristophe is definitely interested in handling our line of machinery, and
he has two or three technical men in his organization. They handle the
Ferguson line of tractors, Huston (English) Diesel engines, and several other
lines of machinery plus small appliances and consumer goods."
ACT-DATE INFO-TW8AIE
2,17,E
aced informati
Approved For Release 1999/09/24: CIA-RDP83-00423 R001900760001-7