564 



and defense programs. Conceivably. Soviet leaders might change pri- 

 orities and concentrate on development of high-technology products 

 for export, as the Japanese have done. 



Soviet foreign trade organizations have demonstrated their ability 

 to export high-technology products in certain sectors. Those exports 

 demonstrate that the Soviet Union now has the capacity to generate 

 technology. Some Soviet industries have undoubtedly benefited from 

 technological spin-off of high-priority military and space programs. 

 Other industries may have developed independent technologies in 

 response to foreign export control policies which deprived them of 

 some technical information from the West. 



Listed below are some types of Soviet machinery and equipment — 

 the most technologically intensive category of exports —which have 

 been exported by the Soviet Union, or which Soviet officials have said 

 they want to sell: 70 



Machinery and mechanical equipment. — Forging and pressing 

 equipment; rolling equipment : mining machinery : power equipment — 

 hydraulic and steam turbines; machinery for food preparation ; textile 

 machines; printing equipment; road-building machinery: and parts 

 of machines — anti-friction bearings. 



Electrical machinery and equipment. — Generators, transformers: 

 radio receivers and components ; and electronics components. 



Transportation equipment. — Aircraft — supersonic airplanes, heli- 

 copters; motorcycles; seagoing freighters — tankers, dry cargo; sea- 

 going passenger ships — hydrofoils ; and tractors. 



Miscellaneous equipment. — Measuring instruments — optical, meteor- 

 ological, et cetera; medical equipment: tools, watches and com- 

 ponents; cameras, photographic accessories; and movie projectors and 

 accessories. 



While many of these items will probably prove noncompetitive in 

 the U.S. market, some of them should find buyers. Soviet ability to ex- 

 port machinery and equipment to the United States will depend 

 largely on whether the Soviet Union receives most-favored-nation 

 treatment. 71 



One very marketable commodity of the Soviet Union is its gold 

 stock. Soviet state gold reserves in 1972 were estimated to be 1800 

 metric tons, and annual gold production was believed to be about 220 

 metric tons. 72 Gold has been exported in large quantities when Soviet 

 hard currency needs were particularly pressing, as in 1964. 1965, and 

 1972, to pay for large grain imports. (See Table 7.) It is uncertain 

 how much gold Soviet leaders will be willing to export in the future: 

 they appear to share the "Midas complex" of their Western counter- 

 parts in associating great value to a substantial gold stock. As large 

 sales of gold in 1972 and 1973 have reduced state reserves. Soviet of- 

 ficial^ may be reluctant to export gold in future commercial transac- 

 tions. They may prefer to accumulate' gold in the event of another 



T " Siiv for p\nmplp. Hnherl II. Hnmphrev nnrl Henry s Ki'iks. Ohscrrations <>» Emit-West 

 Economic delation*: U.S.S.R. and Poland. A trip report prepare] for the U.S. Congress 

 Joint Rconomlo Pommltri • (Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government I'rintlnp Office, 1973). 



71 See below, V.8. Restrictions on Imports from the Soriet Union : the Issue of Most- 

 Favored-Nation Treatment, pp. r>2 ."p. r >. 



"Keith Hush. "The Rest Western Estimates on Soviet Gold." Radio Libert)/ Dispatch, 

 Aup. lift. H»72 ; "The USSR's Undisclosed Assets," op. clt. 



