SOVIET IMPORTS FROM EASTERN EUROPE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84B00049R000200370055-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 25, 2007
• Sequence Number: 55
• Publication Date: February 3, 1982
• Content Type: REPORT

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CONFIDENTIAL
3 February 1982
Soviet Imports from Eastern Europe
Soviet imports from Eastern Europe totaled $29.4 billion
at the official exchange rate ($1.54 per ruble) in 1980, the
last year for which data is available. These imports totalled
43 percent of total Soviet imports that year.
Machinery and equipment imports account for the bulk of
Soviet purchases from Eastern Europe--51 percent in 1980.
Of total Soviet machinery imports in 1980, 65 percent came
from Eastern Europe.
At the official exchange rate, Soviet imports of machinery
from Eastern Europe equalled $15.1 billion in 1980.(See table 1.)
Using a more realistic exchange rate computed by two Western
economists, the value of these imports comes to only $9.1 bil-
lion. As the table shows, the major Soviet machinery import
item was transportation equipment. In 1980, at the official
exchange rate, the Soviet Union bought over $2 billion in
ships and railroad rolling stock from Eastern Europe. At
the alternative exchange rate, such purchases were still
very large--almost $1.3 billion. Agricultural machinery and
equipment purchases from Eastern Europe were also heavy in
1980--$1.1 billion at the official exchange rate, almost
$700 million at the alternative rate.
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The second largest component of Eastern European exports
to the USSR is manufactured consumer goods. Those that were
recorded in Soviet statistics accounted for 16 percent of
imports from Eastern Europe in 1980. Of all Soviet imports
of manufactured consumer goods, imports from Eastern Europe
accounted for 65 percent. As the second table shows, clothing
and shoes were the largest import from Eastern Europe--about
$2.5 billion in 1980 at the official rate, about $1.3 billion
at a lower, more realistic rate.
Recorded Soviet imports of other goods--raw and semi-
manufactured raw materials and agricultural items--account all
told for only about 14 percent of total Eastern European ex-
ports to the Soviet Union. As Table 3 shows, Eastern Europe
accounts for a relatively small percentage of total Soviet
imports of these items. Food is the major item in this residual
category--about $2.4 billion in 1980 at the official rate,
almost $2 billion at a more realistic rate. (There is an
,unexplained residual in Soviet imports from Eastern Europe
equal to slightly less than 20 percent of the total.)
Although Eastern Europe is a major exporter of some items
to the Soviet Union, Soviet dependence on Eastern Europe is
still relatively minor in most cases. Thus, in 1980, Soviet
machinery imports from Eastern Europe were equivalent to only
6 percent of the value of Soviet machinery production. Soviet
imports of manufactured consumer goods were equivalent to
less than 3 percent of Soviet production in this category.
CONFIDENTIAL
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CONFIDENTIAL
Eastern Europe does provide a significant share of some
items, however. According to a Soviet press report, East
European exports in 1976-80 provided 40 percent of the in-
crement to the Soviet merchant fleet, 35 percent of the
increment to inventories of Soviet railroad passenger cars,
12 percent of the increment to the stock of Soviet buses,
and accounted for 15 percent of retail trade in manufactured
clothing, shoes, furniture, and conserves.
CONFIDENTIAL
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Table 1
Soviet Imports of Machinery and Equipment
from Eastern Europe in 1980, $ Million
Valued at
% of Total Soviet
Official More Realistic
M&E Imports
Exchange Ratea
Alternate Rateb
Total Soviet M&E Imports
from EE
65
15114.5
9127.6
Top 15 imports
8099.3
4891.1
Ships and equipment for ships
1226.9
740.9
Agricultural machines and equipment
94
1112.2
671.7
Railroad rolling stock and
auxilary equipment for it
95
844.7
Metal cutting machine tools
and forging-pressing equipment
675.9
408.2
Electrical equipment
78
669.1
404.1
Chemical industry equipment
34
659.0
398.0
Textile industry equipment
517.4
312.5
Food industry equipment
63
443.2
267.7
Buses
398.6
240.4
Energy equipment
63
375.1
226.6
Instruments and laboratory
equipment
69
350.7
211.8
Metal rolling equipment
58
283.2
171.0
Oil refining equipment
237.9
143.7
Medical equipment and instruments
191.0
115.3
Road and road-building
equipment and machinery
39
169.4
a $1.54 per ruble
b $.93 per ruble, based on work by Vanous and Marrese. Rate incorporates a 1/3
"quality discount" on Eastern European machinery.
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Ta.ble 2
Soviet Imports of Manufactured Consumer Goods For
Eastern Europe in 1980, $ Million
Valued at
% of Total
MCG Imports
_Ufficial More Realistic
Exchange Ratea Alternate Rateb
Total Soviet MCG Imports
from EE
66
4691.5
Major Individual Categories
Clothing & Shoes
2473.4
1284.9
Medicine
679.9
353.2
Personal Products
575.3
298.9
Furniture & Other Household
Items
74
543.3
Consumer Durables
87
22'0.7
a $1.54 per ruble
b $.93 per ruble, based on work by Vanous and Marrese.
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Table 3
Soviet Imports of Raw and Semi-Manufactured Raw Materials
from Eastern Europe in 1980, $ Million
Food
of which
Meat
Chemicals
Metals, Oresd, and Minerals
a $1.54 per rubles
b $1.20 per ruble
c $1.34 per ruble
Valued
at
% of Total Soviet
Imported Items
Official
Exchange Ratea
More Realistic
Alternativeb
16
2397.3
1945.9b
22:
479.4
373.6b
23
748.9
651.6?
17'
775.9
674.7?
d The USSR reports only a small percentage of its trade in ores and minerals.
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