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receiving 16% of total industrial investment during 1951-55. Most of the outlays went into the construction of new facilities, including the Lenin plant. The rate of investment in iron and steel was progressively reduced after 1955, however, to 9.6% of total industrial investment during 1956-60, 8.3% during 1961-65, and 6.5% during 1966-70. In spite of this lowered priority, the industry has maintained a steady rate of growth by concentrating investment on the elimination of bottlenecks and the expansion of existing facilities, particularly for the production of such items as cold rolled strip and sheet, tinplate, galvanized sheet, and wire. On balance, however, results have not been entirely satisfactory. The industry is still geared predominantly to the making of steel by the traditional open hearth method. Poland's only oxygen-converter steel mill was put into operation in 1966, and the output of steel by this method in 1972 was only one-fifth of total output, a very low share compared with more advanced steel producing countries. Even though Poland normally exports more steel than it imports, exports are generally weighted heavily with such low-value items as rails, heavy plate, and semifinished products, whereas imports include a larger share of high-value items such as alloy steel, light flat rolled products, and special tubular steels.

Poland has embarked on an ambitious program of expansion and modernization of its steel industry during the 1970's. Planned investments during 1971-75 total 50 billion zlotys, or twice as much as in the 1966-70 period. Production of crude steel is scheduled to reach 15 million tons by 1975, and the quality and assortment of products are to be improved substantially. In the latter half of the decade a large integrated combine, now under construction, is to be put into operation in the Katowice area, with an annual crude steel capacity of 4.5 million tons. It will be equipped with large modern blast furnaces and oxygen converters. A principal product will be semifinished steel for use in nearby plants, where rolling and finishing capacities are to be expanded and diversified.

b. Nonferrous metallurgy

Although generally small by world standards, Poland's nonferrous metals industries are among the largest in Eastern Europe. In the domestic economy these industries rank considerably behind the Polish iron and steel industry in terms of employment and value of annual output. In 1971, employment in nonferrous metallurgy amounted to about 57,000, or about one-third of that of ferrous metallurgy; the value of output in nonferrous metallurgy was nearly 36 billion zlotys, or 40% of that of ferrous metallurgy.

Poland ranks ninth among world producers of zinc but is second only to the USSR among all Communist countries. Its output is more than adequate for domestic needs. In 1972, Poland produced 228,000 tons of zinc and exported 97,000 tons of zinc and zinc plate. Nearly all of Poland's zinc

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