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'''FIGURE 20. This ship was built for the U.S.S.R. in a Wismar shipyard (U/OU)'''

and over 50% of the automobiles it manufactures. The shipbuilding and railroad rolling stock industries are also significant sources of export earnings. East Germany ranks ninth in the world in the tonnage of merchant ships exported, and its exports of rolling stock comprises nearly 10% of all such vehicles exported in world trade.

Imports of metal products as a percentage of the value of total imports, approximately 37% in 1971, increased considerably in the 1960's and is due to rise further in the 1970's. For example, between 1968 and 1971 imports of rolling-mill machinery increased by 39%, antifriction bearings increased by 193%, and regulators and relays increased by 340%. In terms of units imported, East Germany increased its imports of automobiles by 65% over the same 3-year period.

b. Chemicals (S)

East Germany already had a well-developed chemical industry at the end of World War II, based largely on its sizable deposits of brown coal, salt, limestone, potash, and gypsum. The chemical industry, which ranks fourth among East German industries in value of output, has grown more rapidly than industry as a whole, although it has advanced more slowly than the chemical industry of any other East European country. Its annual output more than doubled between 1960 and 1970; output of selected major products of the industry is summarized in Figure 22.

East Germany ranked third in the world in 1970-71 in output of potash fertilizer, slightly ahead of the United States and exceeded only by the U.S.S.R. and Canada. Among the East European countries, it also leads in production of soda ash and caustic soda, plastics, synthetic rubber, and tires.

East Germany is an important exporter of chemical products, especially to other CEMA member countries. In 1971 it exported nearly three-fourths of its output of potash fertilizer, almost half of its output of synthetic rubber, and close to one-third of its output of soda ash, as well as sizable quantities of plastics, photochemical, and other products. Pharmaceuticals are a large export item, but imports in this category amounted to almost three-fourths of exports in 1971. Formerly a net exporter of nitrogen fertilizer, East Germany now imports a large part of its total supply (about one-third in 1971). The country also is dependent on imports for some of its major chemical raw materials, such as pyrites, bituminous coal, coke, phosphate rock, and especially petroleum, which is becoming increasingly important as the chemical industry shifts from a brown coal base to more modern petrochemical processes. (Reportedly more than one-fourth of all chemical output already was based on

'''FIGURE 21. Tractor plant, Schenebeck/Elbe (U/OU)'''

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