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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110021-0 production in terms of uranium metal is about 3,000 tons a year. The deposits at Koenigstein, 6 miles from the Czechoslovak border, have been under development since 1968. The ores, which average between 0.08% and 0.1% uranium content, are processed near Crossen. Production is small, amounting to several hundred tons of recoverable uranium metal per year. When the Koenigstein deposits are fully developed, the East Germans plan to construct another uranium concentrating plant nearby.

East Germany is the world's third-largest producer and third-largest exporter of potash. Nearly three-fourths of the total output of 2.4 million tons of K₂O are exported annually, mainly to Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. Most of the remainder is sold in Western Europe. Mining and processing are centered in the area between the Werra river and the West German border. Production is scheduled to reach 3.0 million tons by 1975, with most of the increase to come from a new mine and refinery in the Calvoerde district. Domestic production supplies most of the fluorspar needed by the chemical and metallurgical industries. A substantial amount of phosphate is imported in the form of apatite, phosphate rock, or fertilizer. Sulfur is produced as a byproduct in the refining of sulfur-rich Soviet crude oil and from sulfur-bearing domestic ores, but a considerable share of consumption is derived from imported pyrites.

4. Manufacturing and construction

Manufacturing occupies a central position in the East German economy, accounting for about 84% of total gross output of industry and more than 85% of total industrial employment (Figures 17 and 18). In 1971 gross output in manufacturing amounted to DME129.7 billion. According to official figures, annual growth has averaged 6.2% since 1968. Employment in manufacturing, however, has grown at a substantially lower annual rate of 0.2%, or an increase of roughly 9,500 workers since 1968. (U/OU)

Within manufacturing, the metal products industries play the leading role, accounting for about 41% of the sector's gross output and 49% of its employment in 1971. In the metal products sector, as well as in manufacturing as a whole, the electrical engineering, electronics, and precision engineering industries have been growing at the fastest rate. Their average annual rates of growth in production and employment from 1968 to 1971 were 10.7% and 3.5%, respectively. During this same period the chemical, mechanical engineering and vehicle construction, and the textile industries experienced declines in employment and below average increases in production. (U/OU)

Since the nationalization in the late 1940's, most industry has been directly nationalized by the state, but a significant private sector of semistate-owned enterprises, private enterprises, and self-employed craftsmen has been tolerated. In February 1972, the regime launched a drive apparently aimed at liquidating the private sector, with the main emphasis being directed at the semistate-owned enterprises. Most enterprises of this type were reportedly converted to People-owned Enterprises (VEB's) by mid-1972,

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110021-0