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Soviet Union [USSR] INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES
Although plentiful raw materials and labor are available to
Soviet industrial planners, geographic factors are especially
important in determining how these resources are used. Because the
main resources are available in an uneven pattern, industrial
policy has produced uneven results. Innovative recombination of
labor, fuels, and other raw materials has had some success but has
also met substantial resistance.
Raw Materials
In 1980 the Soviet Union produced about 20 percent of total
world industrial output, and it led the world in producing oil,
cast iron, steel, coke, mineral fertilizers, locomotives, tractors,
and cement. This leadership was based on self-sufficiency in nearly
all major industrial raw materials, including iron ore, most
nonferrous metals, solid and liquid fuels, water power, and
minerals. The country has at least some reserves of every
industrially valuable nonfuel mineral, although tin, tungsten, and
mercury are present only in small quantities and bauxite is
imported for the aluminum industry. Despite these material
advantages, the country's geography hinders exploitation. Large
portions of the remaining coal, oil, natural gas, metal ores, and
minerals are located in inaccessible regions with hostile climates.
Data as of May 1989
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