INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM THE SOVIET ALUMINUM INDUSTRY: INCREASING DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN RAW MATERIALS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00875R001700020064-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 21
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 25, 2010
• Sequence Number: 64
• Publication Date: November 1, 1971
• Content Type: IM

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DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
LOANN OOpY
RETURN TO Osi
I N 1101, p'.
LOAM COpr
RETURN TO DS6
IH1/01, ~~,
Intelligence Memorandum
The Soviet Aluminum Industry:
Increasing De~iendence on Foreign Raze Materials
NGA Review Completed
Top Secret
25X1
ER IM 71-211
November 1971
Copy No. ~,2
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Directorate of Intelligence
November 1971
THE SOVIET ALUMINUM INDUSTRY:
-NCREASING DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN RAW MATERIALS
hitra~iuction
1. During the past yen years there has been a strong and sustained
effort in the USSR to create a large aluminum industry. Ambitious goals
for the output of aluminum were set during the Seven-Year Plan period
(i 959-GS) and during the Eighth Five-Year Plan period (1966-70). Despite
shortfalls from those planned goals, the Soviet aluminum industry,
nevertheless, achieved impressive increases in output of aluminum ingot and
has become one of the worlds leading producers and exporters of this metal.
2. Ivlore recently it has become apparent that the drive to expand
output very rapidly leas outstripped the capacity of domestic raw materials
producers. Hence, tl~e USSR has been forced to accelerate imports of
bauxite and alumina from forc;ign suppliers. The United States, in particular,
has suddenly become a major supplier of ai.!.imina to the USSR.
3. This memorandum assesses the implications of the Soviet drive
to expand its purchases of raw materials from non-Soviet suppliers and
review: some of the key problems affecting the past and future development
of the aluminum industry.
Discussion
Backgrou7d
4. The USSR is the second largest producer of aluminum in the
world. Output in 1970 amounted to an estimated 1.7 million metric ton~~l~
1. All to~t~tages are metric.
Nc.~te: Tf:is memorandum was prepared by tl:e Office of Cconomic Research
and coordinated within CIA.
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see Table 1), about 48% of the level of US output and about one-fifth
of world production.~2> During the decade 1961-70, output nearly tripled,
and the growth rate of aluminum exceeded that of any other major
non-ferrous metal.
a. Output of secon a.rr~ aZumznum scrap recoverz~)
is not included in this table.
2. For a discussion: of how estimates tit~ere derived, see the Appendix.
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5. The rapid growth in aluminum output is the result of policy
decisions made more than a decade ago. Those decisions were reflected
in the very high output targets set for tl;e Seven-Year Plan (1959-65), and
for the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1956-70). Output was planned to triple
during the Seven-Year Plan and more than double during the Eighth
Five-Year Plan. Actual outp~~t, however, fell short of planned goals in both
periods by a substantial margin: in 1965 an estimated 1 million tons of
aluminum were produced against the 1.5 million tons planned; in 1970,
actual ~~utput reached about 1.7 million tons, compared with a planned
goal of 2 million tons.
6. During the current Five-Year Plan period, output is planned to
grow at the rate of 8?10-10?lo a year, somewhat below rates achieved during
the 1960s, but still rapid. If platttted goals are realized, the USSR will raise
annual production by about 1 million tons of aluminum during 1971-75
and react; a level of output of 2.8 million tons by 1975. In 1975, output
of aluminum in the USSR could exceed mere than one-half of the US
level.
Big Push in Siberia
7. The steady growth in aluminum production in recent years is the
result of an extensive program of modernization anal expansion of plant
capacity. Since about 1964, new alumittttm reduction facilities (smelters)
have been built, or are under construction, at Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, aad
Bratsk in Eastern Siberia, at Novokuznetsk (North) in Western Siberia, and
at Volgograd in the Western USSR The plants in
Eastern Siberia are very large; when full capacity is reached, these facilities
will provide 1.5 million tons of aluminum ingot a year, an amount nearly
equal to the output of ail Soviet producers in 1970 (see !'able 2). Eastern
Siberia has emerged as the major center of aluminum production in the:
USSR.
8. The smelters in Eastern Siberia are far removed from the major
centers of aluminum consumption in the Western USSR. Moreover, at the
present time it is necessary to supply these smelters with most of their
raw materials (alumina)~3~ from plaits in the Urals about 2,900 kilometers
distant.~4~ Freight charges associated with these increased transportation
3. Alumina (aluminum oxide) is att intermediate product derived from
hauxit~~ and other aluminom ores. Alumina is processed info altuninu>t at
reduction plants.
4. At Kamettsk-Uralskiy attd Krasttottiritrsk.
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Soviet Aluminum Production Facilities
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