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Soviet Union [USSR] METALLURGY
Soviet industrial plans through the year 2000 have emphasized
greater variety and higher quality in metals production to keep
heavy industry competitive with the West. But the machinery and
production systems available to Soviet metallurgists in 1989 showed
no signs of improving the inconsistent record the industry had
established in meeting such goals. Following the Stalinist pattern,
great success in some areas was hampered by breakdown in others. In
the late 1980s, escape from this dilemma seemed no more likely than
in earlier years.
Role of Metallurgy
Since the 1970s, the Soviet Union has led the world in the
production of iron, steel, and rolled metals. In 1987 it produced
about 162 million tons of steel, 114 million tons of rolled metal,
and 20 million tons of steel pipe. Each of these figures was an
increase of more than 2.5 times over those of 1960. Metallurgy has
been the largest and fastest growing branch of Soviet industry, and
metals supply remained vital to growth in virtually all other
branches of industry. But yearly production increases were becoming
more difficult because the cost of raw materials rose consistently
in the 1980s, especially for metals such as molybdenum, nickel,
magnesium, and rare earth metals, which were in increasing demand
for high-quality steel alloys.
In the mid-1980s, the metallurgy industry was not meeting its
goals for supplying high-quality finished metal to the
manufacturing industries. Those industries were demanding
higher-quality and stronger metals for new applications, such as
high-pressure pipelines for oil and gas, high-capacity dump trucks
and excavators, industrial buildings with large roof spans,
corrosion-resistant pipe for the chemical industry, coated and
treated rolled metals, and steel with high conductivity for
electrical transformers. As military equipment became more
sophisticated, it too required improved quality and performance
from metal products. On the development side, advances in lightmetal alloys using aluminum, magnesium, and titanium did provide
materials for military aircraft and missiles that were among the
best in the world.
Data as of May 1989
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