APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070030-5
FIGURE 11. Land-use pattern (U/OU) (picture)
amounted to about 17 million tons. Coal production in Poland has increased steadily throughout the postwar period, because of a shortage of other fuels, especially crude oil, and because of strong demand for coal on international markets. Since 1970, coal production has increased by 5 million to 6 million tons (about 4%) per year, and the planned growth rate through 1975 is the same. Four-fifths of the hard coal output is consumed domestically, and one-fifth is exported.
Coal has been an important source of foreign exchange since the end of World War II. In 1971, coal exports totaling 30 million tons earned the equivalent of more than US$400 million, $220 million of which was in hard currency. About one-half of the exports have been going to the Communist countries, mainly the USSR, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Hungary. Major importers in the non-Communist world have been Italy, France, Finland, Denmark, Japan, and Austria. Coking coal exports amounted to about 6 million tons, or 20% of total exports of hard coal, in 1971. Growing Wester concern over air pollution should help keep the demand high for low-sulfur Polish coal. Poland imports about 1 million tons of high-grade coking coal per year, most of it from the USSR. Approximately 2 million tons of coke are exported annually. Major recipients are the USSR and East Germany.
Polish hard coal is nearly all bituminous and is extracted almost exclusively from deep mines. Reserves are concentrated in the Upper and Lower Silesian basins along the Polish-Czechoslovak border and in the newly-discovered coal basin in eastern Poland between Lublin and the Polish-Soviet border. Total possible reserves are estimated at about 100 billion tons to a depth of 1,000 meters and 150 billion tons to a depth of 2,000 meters.
Hard coal is by far the most important source of primary energy in Poland, although its share is declining slowly. The percentage shares (actual and planned) of energy consumption, by sources of energy, are as follows:
| 1965 | 1970 | 1975 Plan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hard coal | 81.8% | 76.4% | 68.6% |
| Brown coal | 5.8% | 5.4% | 6.9% |
| Petroleum | 7.0% | 10.4% | 13.7% |
| Natural gas | 2.1% | 6.2% | 8.4% |
| Other (peat, wood, water, and recovered fuels) | 3.3% | 1.6% | 2.4% |
| Total | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070030-5
