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built at Zaluzi and Neratovice. There the basic petrochemicals will be processed into polyethylene and polyethylene for consumption by both countries. The ethylene will be shipped via a 220-kilometer pipeline, construction of which was begun in mid-1973. The object of this program is to take advantage of the economies of scale with minimum capital investment by each country.

c. Light industry

Light industry is the second largest branch of manufacturing and includes the production of nonfood consumer goods, including textiles, clothing, footwear, wood products, rubber products, paper, glass, and ceramics. In 1971 this branch accounted for about 32% of industrial output and employed about 16% of all skilled workers in Czechoslovakia.

Production of consumer goods has continued to expand since World War II (Figure 10). Neglect of this branch of industry, however, in the drive to expand heavy industry has led to a steady deterioration of physical plant. New products are few, and capacity is insufficient to meet the demands of foreign and domestic markets. Moreover, the failure to keep pace with changes in design and tastes has destroyed the formerly good reputation of many products. Czechoslovakia remains a net exporter of most light industrial products, but other Communist countries and the less-developed countries have displaced Western buyers as the main importers. During 1970-72 manufactured consumer goods (excluding raw materials) made up almost 18% of total exports and 8% of total imports.

Light industry typically is labor intensive, embracing many craft, custom, and small shop operations. The value of capital per worker is much less than in the chemical, food processing, and machine building industries and output per worker is lower. Similarly, output per worker is lower. Similarly, output per worker in light industry has increased more slowly than in the chemical and food industries—except in the wood products industry, where total output and output per worker have increased rapidly.

Except for the production of wood and paper products, glass, and ceramics, light industry depends heavily on imports of raw materials. Exports usually are sufficient to pay for the imports of raw materials for the industry. Value figures for 1972 imprports and exports of the more important categories of light industry products (excluding raw materials) are shown in the following tabulation (in millions of current U.S. dollars):

d. Agricultural processing

Since 1960 agricultural processing has had one of the lowest rates of yearly growth within the industrial sector—averaging just over 4% per year. In 1971, agricultural processing employed 7.8% of the industrial labor force (154,000 workers) compared with 8.3% in 1960. Agricultural processing accounted for about 16% of industrial output in 1971.

The agricultural processing industry satisfies most domestic requirements for foods and related products (Figure 11) but depends upon imports for a relatively large share of its raw materials. Only two of the industry's branches—sugar production, and brewing and malt—produce a surplus for export. The most important imports of agricultural products include milling-quality wheat, feed supplements, oilseeds, tobacco, meat, and raw cane sugar. Other Communist countries, especially the U.S.S.R., continue to be the major suppliers except in bad agricultural years such as 1972 when cutbacks and Soviet deliveries of grain forced the Czechoslovaks to buy from the West.

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110014-8