tion plans and the limited
availability of resources.

In 1972 the Ministry of Supply and State Reserves planned to take
energetic measures to strengthen contract discipline and to use
contracts as legal and economic instruments for exerting pressure on
both parties to fulfill their obligations. The minister considered it
particularly important to put an end to the practice of contract
cancellation, either under provisions of official regulations or by
mutual agreement of the parties concerned--a practice that, according to
the minister, caused huge losses to the national economy.

Structure

Manufacturing is the dominant sector of industry in terms of employment
and output. In 1971 manufacturing accounted for 93.9 percent of the
total industrial output and provided employment to 88.3 percent of the
industrial labor force. Mining and energy production contributed 3.6 and
2.5 percent, respectively, of the industrial output and employed 10.3
and 1.4 percent, respectively, of the labor force. More than half the
industrial establishment was devoted to the production of capital goods.
In 1971 the capital goods sector employed 52.5 percent of the industrial
labor force and produced 56 percent of the output. The relative
importance of the capital goods sector had been rising over a period of
years, from 36.7 percent of the output in 1948 and 47.2 percent in 1960.
During the same period the contribution of the consumer goods sector to
total output had declined from 63.3 percent in 1948 to 52.8 percent in
1960 and 44 percent in 1971. As a consequence of the priority
development of heavy industry, the supply of consumer goods on the
domestic market has been inadequate to meet consumer needs (see ch. 5).

In terms of their employment shares, the largest state industry branches
in 1971 were: machine building and metalworking, 25.5 percent; food
processing, 14.4 percent; and textiles, 11.3 percent. Next in
importance, but with much lower levels of employment, were: timber and
woodworking, 7.4 percent; chemicals and rubber, 6.1 percent; and fuels,
5.5 percent. Industrial branches that experienced the most rapid growth
in the 1960-71 period included ferrous metallurgy, chemicals and rubber,
machine building and metalworking, and fuels. Among the slowest growing
branches were timber and wood processing, textiles, nonferrous
metallurgy, and food processing.

FUELS AND POWER

Domestic resources of mineral fuels are inadequate