THE SOVIET ASBESTOS INDUSTRY DURING THE SEVEN YEAR PLAN 1959-65

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• Publication Date: December 1, 1962
• Content Type: REPORT

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-CONFIDENTIAL?
Economic Intelligence Report
THE SOVIET ASBESTOS INDUSTRY
DURING THE SEVEN YEAR PLAN
1959-65
CIA/RR ER 62-41
December 1962
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Research and Reports
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N?
GROUP 1
Excluded from automatic
downgrading and
declassification
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CONFIDENTIAL
Economic Intelligence Report
THE SOVIET ASBESTOS INDUSTRY
DURING THE SEVEN YEAR PLAN
1959-65
CIA/RR ER 62-41
WARNING
This material contains information affecting
the National Defense of the United States
within the meaning of the espionage laws,
Title 18, USC, Secs. 793 and 794, the trans-
mission or revelation of which in any manner
to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Research and Reports
CONFIDENTIAL
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CONTENTS
Page
Summary and Conclusions 1
I. Introduction 3
II. Production 4
A. Magnitude
B. Location of Deposits
C. Processing Mills
1. Urals
2. Kazakhstan and Central Asia
3. East Siberia
III. Consumption
IV. Exports
A. Non-Bloc
B. Bloc
V. Prospects
A. Production
B. Exports
Appendixes
4
6
6
6
7
7
8
8
10
10
12
12
12
Appendix A. Status of Asbestos Mills in the USSR, 1962 . . 15
Appendix B. Methodology for Table 3
17
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Tables
1. World Production of Asbestos, 1950, 1955, 1960,
and 1962
Page
4
2. Estimated Production of Asbestos in the USSR,
1955-62 and 1965 Plan
5
3. Estimated Consumption of Asbestos in the USSR,
1955-62 and 1965
9
4. Exports of Asbestos by the USSR, 1955-61
11
5. Estimated Status of New Asbestos Mills Under
Construction in the USSR in 1962
12
Chart
USSR: Production and Distribution of Asbestos, 1955,
and 1965
1961,
1
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THE SOVIET ASBESTOS INDUSTRY DURING THE SEVEN YEAR PLAN*
1959-65
Summary and Conclusions
By 1965 the exportable surplus of asbestos in the USSR will reach
a total estimated at 500,000 tons,** more than three times the quantity
exported in 1961 and about 7.5 times that exported in 1955 (see the
accompanying chart). At the same time, the USSR probably will account
for more than one-half of the world output of asbestos and will pro-
duce almost twice as much as the second largest producer, Canada.
USSR: Production and Distribution of Asbestos
1955, 1961, and 1965
Total Production
Exports
Consumption
(In metric tons)
558.800
491,700
1955
36794 11-62
1,164,000
1,005,400
1961
*Estimated data have been rounded.
2,000,000*
1.505,000
(EST.)
1965
* The estimates and conclusions in this report represent the best
judgment of this Office as of 1 December 1962.
** Tonnages are given in metric tons throughout this report.
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The emergence of the USSR as the largest producer of asbestos in
the world has been developing since 1950, when major expansion of the
Soviet asbestos industry was begun. In each subsequent 5-year period,
production of asbestos doubled, increasing from one-fourth of a mil-
lion tons in 1950 to more than one-half of a million tons in 1955 and
to 1 million tons in 1960. This rapid rate of growth will continue
during the remaining years of the Seven Year Plan (1959-65), even
though the Plan goal probably will be underfulfilled by a significant
quantity. The goal of the Seven Year Plan for 1965 is 2.5 million
tons of asbestos of all grades, or about three times output in 1958.
In view of the current status of construction of new asbestos pro-
cessing mills and the performance of Soviet construction in the in-
dustry in recent years, .approximately 500,000 tons of new capacity
planned to be in full operation in 1965 probably will not be completed
by that year. Thus production in 1965 probably will be about 2 mil-
lion tons, only 80 percent of the goal but about twice production in
1960.
The effect of the shortfall in production presumably will be a
reduction in the quantity of asbestos that the USSR will have avail-
able for export, as it is unlikely the USSR would restrict domestic
consumption appreciably in favor of larger exports. Because planned
production of asbestos-cement shingles and pipe, the major end uses
for consumers of asbestos in the Soviet economy, will require about
960,000 tons of asbestos in 1965 and because other consumers will re-
quire about 545,000 tons, approximately 500,000 tons of the estimated
2 million tons of asbestos that will be produced in 1965 will be avail-
able for export. Of this amount, approximately 100,000 tons may be
allocated to the European Satellites, and 4o0,000 tons could then be
exported to the West, primarily to Western Europe.
Soviet exports of this magnitude to the West in 1965 should earn
the equivalent of approximately US $55 million. Probably more sig-
nificant, however, is the potential effect on the Western producers,
particularly Canada, which have supplied the European market in the
past. Soviet exports of 400,000 tons of asbestos could displace all
or nearly all Western asbestos on the European market and necessitate
extensive readjustments in the asbestos industries of these nations.
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I. Introduction
Chrysotile asbestos,* which constitutes about 95 percent of the
total world production of asbestos of all varieties and practically
all of Soviet production, is a fibrous mineral whose unique properties,
particularly resistance to heat and friction, make it essential to a
number of applications. Asbestos generally occurs in irregular veins
scattered throughout rock masses and is mined in huge open-pit or
underground workings. The fibers are separated from the rock and
sorted into groups, according to length, in mills located near the
mines. The longer fibers are shipped to textile plants, where they
are fiberized further and prepared in special machines and then spun
into yarn and woven into textile products -- primarily fireproof cloth --
that are used in fire-fighting and industrial applications where pro-
tection from heat and flame are essential. Shorter fibers are used in
automotive brake linings and clutch facings, steam packings, gaskets,
and electrical wiring insulation. Low-grade, very short fibers are
mixed with cement as a binder in asbestos-cement products such as build-
ing shingles, pipe, and boiler and roofing cements. The lowest grades
are used in molded plastics; in fillers; and, mixed with other materials,
in the manufacture of flooring materials.
Fibers obtained from different deposits vary in the ease with which
they may be fiberized. This condition has considerable practical im-
portance because an asbestos that is difficult to fiberize may require
such intense milling to reduce the fibers to desirable fineness that
they may be broken into short lengths. Milling processes and equipment
also play an important part in preservation of fiber length, and great
care normally is exercised during milling in order that a minimum of
fiber breakage occurs. In spite of all precautions, however, much
fiber breakage does occur during processing, and, long, high-grade
fiber generally is in short supply throughout the world.
Although many countries of the world produce asbestos, only Canada,
the USSR, the Union of South Africa, and the Federation of Rhodesia and
Nyasaland produce significant quantities. For many years, the annual
output of Canada far exceeded production of any other country in the
world including the USSR. Since 1950, however, Soviet output has
* A second kind of asbestos, the amphibole group, includes anthophyllite,
tremolite, amosite, and crocidolite. The uses of anthophyllite and
tremolite are few and unimportant, and very little of either variety
enters international trade. Amosite and crocidolite occur mainly in
Africa. Both have important uses for which chrysotile is a possible
but not entirely satisfactory substitute.
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expanded at such a rapid rate that the USSR has overtaken Canada as the
leading world producer and now accounts for more than two-fifths of the
world production. As discussed in the following sections of this re-
port, the USSR probably will dominate this field to an even greater de-
gree by 1965. The relative magnitude of production of the USSR, Canada,
and all other producing countries is shown in Table 1.
Table 1
World Production of Asbestos
1950, 1955, 1960, and 1962
Year
Thousand Metric Tons
Soviet Production
as a Percent of
World Production
World
USSR 2/
Canada b/
Other b/
1950
1,451
211.11.
794
413
17
1955
1,914
559
965
390
29
1960
2,659
1,064
1,015
580
4o
1962
2,844
1,24
1,000 c/
600 c/4
44
a.
For the methodology, see Table 2,
p. 5, below, and source
1/.
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c.
II.
Estimated.
Production
A. Magnitude
Production of asbestos in the USSR has increased every year
since 1950, when Soviet output of 244,000 tons constituted about 17
percent of the World production and was equal to about 31 percent of
Canadian output. In 5 years, Soviet production increased almost 130
percent, to 559,000 tons in 1955, and in the following 5 years almost
doubled again, rising to more than a million tons in 1960, when, for
the first time, Soviet output exceeded Canadian production and con-
stituted 4o percent of the total world output. Two years later, in
1962, Soviet production probably will have increased 200,000 additional
tons to about 1,244,000 tons of asbestos of all grades. This level of
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output will exceed probable Canadian production by at least 200,000
tons and will make the USSR the largest producer of asbestos in the
world. Production of asbestos in the USSR during 1955-62 and the
goal of the Seven Year Plan (1959-65) for 1965 are shown in Table 2.
Table 2
Estimated Production of Asbestos in the USSR
1955-62 and 1965 Plan
Metric Tons
Year
Total
High and Medium Grades
Low Grades
1955 a/
558,800
408,500
150,300
1956 a/
699,800
501,800
198,000
1957 ..;,./
800,700
574,900
225,800
1958 b/
865,000
630,000
235,000
1959 -C-/
963,000
693,000
270,000
1960 d/
1,064,000
769,000
295,000
1961 -e/
1,164,000
841,000
323,000
1962 T./
1,244,000
921,000
323,000
1965 E./
2,500,000
2,000,000
500,000
a. 3/
b. IT/
c. --/
d. The total output in 1960 increased 23 percent above that in
1958. 6/ Output of high and medium grades and output of low grades are
estimated to have constituted the same part of the total output in 1960
as they averaged in the preceding 5 years.
e. A new section of Mill at Asbest with a reported capacity of
100,000 metric tons began production late in 1960. 7/ Soviet output in
1961 is estimated to have exceeded output in 1960 by this quantity. 8/
Output of high and medium grades and output of low grades are estimated
to have constituted the same part of the total output in 1961 as they
averaged in the preceding 5 years.
f. Preliminary estimate. The first section of the Aktovrak Mill in
the Tannu Tuva Autonomous Oblast began operating late in 1961. 9/ The
capacity of the first section is estimated at 80,000 metric tons of
medium-grade asbestos.
g. Seven Year Plan goal, 12/ which, it is estimated, will be underful-
filled by 500,000 tons.
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Under the Seven Year Plan the annual production of asbestos in
the USSR is to increase to 2.5 million tons by 1965. The achievement
of this goal requires an increase in praduction of 1,635,000 tons above
production in 1958, which is to be accomplished by the construction and
commissioning of five new plants with a total capacity of 1,435,000
tons and by increasing the capacity of existing plants a total of
200,000 tons. By the end of 1962 it is estimated that 380,000 tons
will have been added to capacity in 1958, of which 180,000 tons will
be from new construction and 200,000 tons from expansion of existing
facilities, while approximately 1,255,000 tons of new capacity will
still be under construction.
B. Location of Deposits
Before 1962, all production of asbestos in the USSR was carried
on in the Urals Region in Sverdlovskaya Oblast.* More than 90 percent
of Soviet output came from the Bashenovsk deposit near the town of
Asbest, about 50 kilometers (km) northeast of the city of Sverdlovsk,
and the remaining 10 percent came from a small deposit near the town of
Alapayevsk, about 90 km north of Asbest. In spite of the tremendous
quantities of ore that have been removed from the Bashenovsk deposit in
past years, this deposit remains one of the largest in the world, and
although its relative importance is declining, it will continue to be
the principal source of asbestos in the USSR for the foreseeable future.
In the latter half of the 19501s, preparatory work was begun for
the exploitation of three other deposits. The largest of these is lo-
cated near the town of Dzhetygara in Kustanayskaya Oblast in Kazakh SSR.
The other two, the Kiembi, which is about 50 km east of Orsk in Orenburg-
skaya Oblast, and the Aktovrak in the Tannu Tuva Autonomous Oblast, are
smaller and presumably will play a lesser role in the Soviet asbestos
industry. By 1965, if Plan goals are met, these three deposits will
account for approximately 35 percent of the total Soviet production of
asbestos, and the contribution of the Bashenovsk deposit will decline
correspondingly from about 90 percent of the total output to 60 percent.
C. Processing Mills
1. Urals
Before 1962, five mills at Asbest and one mill at Alapayevsk
processed all of the asbestos produced in the USSR. The Alapayevsk
mill and Mills _ at Asbest are old mills that were built 50X1
during the 1930's and since then have been reconstructed, modernized,
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and enlarged.* The current annual capacity of these three mills is
approximately 645,000 tons. The three other mills at Asbest
have a total capacity
of 520,000 tons. Mill (old) was completed in 1954 and has a
ca city of 55,000 tons of high-grade and medium-grade fiber. Mill
new) was completed late in 1960 or early in 1961 and has a
capacity of 100,000 tons of law-grade fiber. Mill went into
operation in 1955 with an annual capacity of somewhat less than
200,000 tons. Since that time the capacity of Mil has been
increased to about 365,000 tons, making it the largest asbestos mill
in the USSR at the present time.***
Construction of Mill as begun at Asbest in 1959.
This mill, with a planned capacity of 450,000 tons, will be the lar-
gest mill in the Urals Region and the second largest in the USSR.
Although no commissioning date has yet been announced, presumably
completion and commissioning of the mill are intended during the Seven
Year Plan, as the mill must be in full production in 1965 if the Plan
goal is to be achieved.
A mill is under construction at the Kiembi deposit, but
little has been reported about its status except that construction is
behind schedule. The estimated capacity of the mill when completed
is 125,000 tons.
2. Kazakhstan and Central Asia
In 1958, construction was begun on the Dzhetygara mill,
which will be the largest in the USSR with a capacity of about 6001,000
tons. Completion of the mill by 1965 was planned, but delays in con-
struction appear to have upset the schedule.
the first section of the mill with a capacity of 200,000 tons
will not begin production until 1963, 2 years later than originally
planned.
3. East Siberia
A mill is under construction at the site of the Aktovrak
deposit in the Tannu Tuva Autonomous Oblast. The first section of
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* Mills at Asbest are numbered consecutively. Mill became 50X1
obsolescent in the early 1950's and was torn down so that the asbestos
deposit on which it stood could be exploited.
** Mills (new) share the same initial ore- 50X1
processing facilities but otherwise are separate and independent plants.
*** For a description of Soviet asbestos mills in greater detail, see
Appendix A.
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the mill reportedly was completed and began operating late in 1961.
Although the construction schedule has not been announced, work appar-
ently is well enough advanced to justify the conclusion that the mill
will be completed and in full operation at its capacity of 160,000 tons
by 1965.
III. Consumption
The USSR is the largest consumer of asbestos in the world, with a
level of consumption almost double that of the US, the only other nation
consuming large quantities of asbestos. Soviet consumption of asbestos
has increased rapidly during the postwar period to an estimated level
in 1962 somewhat in excess of a million tons and probably will continue
to increase during the remainder of the Seven Year Plan period. It is
estimated that consumption of asbestos in 1965 will reach 1.5 million
tons, which will constitute about one-half of the probable total world
consumption.
The rapid increase in and the relatively high level of Soviet con-
sumption of asbestos are the result primarily of the very extensive
use of asbestos in the asbestos-cement building materials industry,
which accounts for about 80 percent of the total Soviet consumption. 11/
Asbestos-cement shingles and pipe alone account for from 50 percent to
6o percent of the total asbestos consumed, and other asbestos-cement
products account for 20 percent to 30 percent. The estimated quantity
of asbestos consumed in asbestos-cement shingles and pipe and in other
applications during 1955-62 and 1965 is shown in Table 3.*
IV. Exports
Soviet exports of asbestos have increased every year since 1955,
from a total of 67,100 tons in 1955 to 158,600 tons in 1961. The in-
crease of 136 percent in exports is slightly greater than the estimated
increase in production of 108 percent, a trend that probably will con-
tinue through 1965. The pattern of exports has been fairly stable
throughout the period, approximately one-third of the total sales going
to the European Satellites and two-thirds to non-Bloc countries, mainly
to countries in Western Europe.
Although the annual Soviet exports of asbestos are not a major
source of foreign exchange for the USSR, their total value has averaged
approximately 20 million rubles** annually in recent years, and exports
* Table 3 follows on p. 9.
** Ruble values in this report are given in new rubles established by
the Soviet currency reform of 1 January 1961. A nominal rate of exchange
based on the gold content of the respective currencies is 0.90 ruble to
US $1. This rate, however, should not be interpreted as a precise ruble-
dollar relationship that will yield an equivalent dollar value.
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Table 3
Estimated Consumption of Asbestos in the USSR a/
1955-62 and 1965
Metric Tons
Year
Total
Asbestos Content of
All Other
Asbestos-Cement
Shingles
Asbestos-Cement
Pipe
1955
491,700
208,300
36,400
247,000
1956
610,300
253,300
39,600
317,400
1957
697,300
301,400
42,000
353,900
1958
747,500
336,900
45,600
365,000
1959
834,400
364,500
48,900
421,000
1960
917,900
418,800
55,800
443,300
1961
1,005,400
475,900
65,000
464,5oo
1962
1,068,800
510,300 b/
73,500 b/
485,000
1965
1,505,000
840,000 b/
120,000 b/
545,000
a. For the methodology, see Appendix B. Data are rounded to the nearest 100 metric tons.
b. Estimate based on the planned production of asbestos-cement shingles and pipe.
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to non-Bloc countries have earned the equivalent of about US $13 mil-
lion annually. The value of asbestos as an export commodity is en-
hanced further by the apparently favorable cost structure of the Soviet
asbestos industry relative to that of many other Soviet industries pro-
ducing goods for export. This relative advantage probably accounts
for the apparent Soviet decision to plan an exportable surplus of almost
1 million tons in 1965. Although the goal probably will not be met,
annual Soviet exports of asbestos probably will continue to increase
during most of the remainder of the 1960's, with a larger share of the
total going to the Free World as exports increase enough to satisfy
minimum Bloc requirements.
A. Non-Bloc
Soviet exports of asbestos to non-Bloc countries increased
from 41,000 tons in 1955 to 101,000 tons in 1961. During the period,
more than 90 percent of all exports to countries outside the Bloc
were to countries in Western Europe. West Germany, France, and Belgium
were the major buyers of Soviet asbestos, taking well over one-half of
the total sold to non-Bloc countries. Other European buyers of sig-
nificant quantities were Italy, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.
The total Soviet annual exports to the West and to Western Europe dur-
ing 1955-61 are shown in Table 4.*
Consumption of asbestos by European non-Bloc countries appar-
ently has increased rapidly enough to absorb Soviet exports without
curtailing imports from Western producers. During 1955-61, European
consumers increased their imports from Canada, the major supplier of
asbestos to Western Europe, at the same time that they more than
doubled their imports from the USSR. Nevertheless, there is little
question that Western producers could have supplied the expanding Euro-
pean market easily and that Soviet exports, therefore, preempted a part
of the market that otherwise would have been supplied by producing
countries in the Free World.
B. Bloc
In 1961, Soviet exports of asbestos to the European Satellites
were about 56,000 tons compared with about 24,000 tons sold to the
European Satellites in 1955. During the period, Czechoslovakia bought
more than one-third of the total imported by the Bloc, and East Germany,
Poland, and Hungary combined bought about one-half. North Korea, whose
purchases averaged better than 1,000 tons annually, was the only Bloc
country outside Europe that bought asbestos from the USSR.
* Table 4 follows on p. 11.
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Table 4
Exports of Asbestos by the USSR a/
1955-61
Metric Tons
To Non-Bloc
Countries
Of Which:
To Western To Bloc
Year Total Total Europe Countries
1955 b/
67,loo
4o,800
38,000
25,800
1956 b/
89,500
61,500
54,000
28,000
1957
103,400
60,000
59,000
43,400
1958 d/
117,500
82,100
78,000
35,100
1959 2/
128,600
85,000
80,000
43,400
1960 f/
146,100
101,200
93,000
44,600
1961 iy
158,600
101,000
88,000
57,700
a. Soviet published trade statistics do not add to precise totals,
presumably because of unrecorded exports of small quantities.
b. 12/
c. 13/
d.
e. 15/
f.
g. 17/
Imports by the European Satellites of small quantities of
high-grade Canadian asbestos tend to confirm reports of shortages of
high-grade fiber in the European Satellites and to substantiate the
estimate that the USSR does not produce enough high-grade spinning
fiber to meet Bloc requi2ements. Imports of asbestos by the European
Satellites from Canada in 1959 totaled about 1,600 tons of high-grade
fiber; in 1960, about 60 percent of the 4,800 tons imported from Canada
was high-grade fiber; and in 1961, more than 80 percent of the 2,200
tons imported from Canada was high-grade fiber.
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V. Prospects
A. Production
The production goal of the Seven Year Plan for 1965 for the
Soviet asbestos industry is 2.5 million tons of asbestos of all grades.
All of the additional capacity required to achieve the goal is under
construction at the present time, but failure to maintain construction
schedules, particularly those for the largest mills, makes it unlikely
that the goal will be achieved on schedule. Considering the status of
construction of the new mills as of mid-1962 and the performance of
the construction organizations in recent years, a shortfall estimated
at about 500,000 tons in 1965 seems probable. The status of the four
asbestos mills under construction in 1962, the probable dates when the
first sections of the mills will start production, and the estimated
dates when capacity output will be achieved are shown in Table 5.
Table 5
Estimated Status of New Asbestos Mills Under Construction
in the USSR in 1962
Metric Tons
Mill
Asbest Mill
Full Capacity
Start of Production Production
Shortfall
Section Capacity Year Capacity Year in 1965
1
1
2
1
200,000
6o,000
200,000
200,000
80,000
1964
1965
1963
.
196 5
196
450,000
125,000
600,000
160,000
1967
1966
1966-67
1963-64
250,000
65,000
200,000
Kiembi
Dzhetygara
Aktovrak
B. Exports
The shortfall in production in 1965 of about 500,000 tons
probably will have a significant effect on plans for export of asbestos.
Since domestic consumption in 1965 will reach a total estimated at 1.5
million tons,* about 500,000 tons probably will be available for export
* The quantity of asbestos that will be consumed by the domestic econ-
omy in 1965 is believed to be essentially independent of the success or
failure of the Soviet asbestos industry [footnote continued on p. 13]
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in 1965 instead of 1 million tons that would have been available had
the production goal been achieved. Although exports of 500,000 tons
in 1965 are considerably less than is believed to have been called for
under the Plan, this quantity nevertheless will be more than three
times the magnitude of exports in 1961. Moreover, as the shortfall of
500,000 tons of capacity is brought into production after 1965, produc-
tion presumably will increase considerably more rapidly than consump-
tion, and the quantity of asbestos available for export probably will
increase sharply above 500,000 tons.
Assuming that Soviet exports of asbestos to the Bloc countries
in 1965 will increase to perhaps twice the level of 58,000 tons in 1961,
approximately 400,000 tons, or about 4 times the level of Soviet exports
to non-Bloc countries in 1961, will be available for export to the non-
Bloc countries in 1965. This quantity is approximately equal to the
part of the European market that was supplied by Western producers in
1961. Even though the market presumably will expand in the future, it
is doubtful that it can expand enough to absorb the larger Soviet ex-
ports and still maintain the 1961 level of purchases from Western
countries. It seems probable, therefore, that Soviet competition with
Western producers for their share of the market will increase signifi-
cantly during the 1960's, and a partial or even a total displacement
of imports of asbestos produced by countries of the Free World could
take place.
to meet its Plan goal for 1965. The assumption is implied, however,
that all asbestos-consuming industries will achieve their production
goals for 1965. Failure to do so would result in a larger quantity
than 500,000 tons of asbestos being available for export.
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ARFENDDC A
STATUS OF ASBESTOS MILLS IN THE USSR
1962
Mill
Location
Capacity of Mill
(Metric Tons)
Remarks
Urals
Alapayevsk Mill
Alapayevsk
Sverdlovskaya Oblast
100,000 (estimated)
Reconstruction completed in 1956 and capacity doubled. 18/
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Asbest Mill
Asbest
Sverdlovskaya Oblast
200,000
Capacity of 140,000 tons of high and medium grades and 60,000 tons of low
grades. 19/
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Asbest Mill
Asbest
Sverdlovskaya Oblast
345,000
Capacity of 245,000 tons of high and medium grades and 100,000 tons of
low grades. 20/
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Asbest Mill
Old)
Asbest
Sverdlovskaya Oblast
55,000
Went into production in September 1954. Capacity of 55,000 tons of high
and medium grades only. D__/
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Asbest Mill
New)
Asbest
Sverdlovskava Oblast
100,000
New mill under construction in 1959. Production started late in 1960 or
early in 1961. 22/ Capacity of 100,000 tons in 1961.
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Asbest Mill
Asbest
Sverdlovskaya Oblast
365,000
Went into operation in 1955. Since then has doubled capacity. Capacity
in 1959 of 255,000 tons of high and medium grades and 110,000 tons of
low grades. a/
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Asbest Mill
Asbest
Sverdlovskaya Oblast
450,000 (planned)
Construction begun in 1959. Capacity of 300,000 tons of high and medium
grades and 150,000 tons of low grades. 24/ Not yet in production in 1962.
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Mill
Urals (Continued)
Kiembi Asbestos Combine
Kazakhstan and Central Asia
Dzhetygara Asbestos
Combine
Aktovrak Asbestos
Combine
Location
Orenburgskaya Oblast
Dzhetygara
Kazakh SSR
Tannu Tuva Autonomous Oblast
Capacity of Mill
(Metric Tons)
Remarks
125,000 (estimated) Probably under construction in 1961. Completion date unknown. 25/
600,000 (planned)
160,000 (planned)
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Construction begun in 1958. First section with a capacity of 200,000
tons to begin production in 1963. 26/ According to initial plan
capacity, output of 600,000 tons is to be attained in 1965, but
construction apparently is 2 years behind schedule.
First section to begin operating in fourth quarter of 1961. Capacity
of plant to be 160,000 tons. 27/
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APPENDIX B
METHODOLOGY FOR TABLE 3
The USSR reports the annual output of asbestos-cement shingles and
asbestos-cement pipe in standard units. Each unit of shingle contains
an average of 0.14 kilograms of asbestos. 28/ Estimates of the quantity
of asbestos consumed by the asbestos-cement shingle industry are made
by multiplying the asbestos content of a standard shingle by the re-
ported number of standard shingles produced each year. 29/
Estimates of the quantity of asbestos consumed by the asbestos-
cement pipe industry are made by a similar process. Because 1 kilo-
meter (km) of standard pipe contains approximately 3 tons of asbestos, 30/
the estimate of asbestos consumed by the asbestos-cement pipe industry
is made by multiplying the asbestos content of 1 km of standard pipe by
the reported number of kilometers of standard pipe produced each year. 31/
The quantity of asbestos used by consumers other than the asbestos-
cement shingle and pipe industries probably approximates the residual
of annual production less the quantity consumed by the shingle and pipe
industries and the total quantity exported. The residual derived by
this methodology for 1955-61 is shown as "All Other Consumption" in the
table.
Estimates of consumption of asbestos by the asbestos-cement shingle
and pipe industries in 1962 and 1965 are made by the same methodology
employed for previous years except that figures on production of shingles
and pipe are Plan figures.
The estimate of the quantity of asbestos that will be used in 1962
by consumers other than the shingle and pipe industries and shown as
"All Other Consumption" in the table is based on the assumption that
approximately the same average annual quantitative increase occurred
in 1962 above 1961 as occurred in the 2 preceding years. The estimate
of consumption by all other consumers in 1965 is based on the assump-
tion that the average annual quantitative increase during 1963-65 re-
mained the same as the average annual quantitative increase during
1960-62.
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