(EST Pub Date) Science and Technology in Communist CHINA Through 1970

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resistant materials imposed by advanced military
and civilian requirements, the Chinese increased
substantially the electric furnace capacity and the
training of metallurgists in the late 1950’s. How-
ever, the Chinese still do not have the capability to
produce high-quality grain-oriented steels or to
fabricate refractory metals, such as molybdenum,
tungsten, columbium, and tantalum. The Chinese
also do not have sufficient rolling equipment to
produce in adequate quantities the variety of shapes
needed for a wide range of modern industrial and
military construction. The metallurgical equip-
ment industry is unable to produce the large pre-
cision finishing mills needed to complete the rolling
mill program that was started but only partly com-
pleted with Soviet aid.
203. Raw materials for the production of most
metals are available in China, although the quality
of some ores is inferior. However, China has only
small known reserves of chrome, nickel, and co-
balt—three important steel alloying materials. Ex-
pansion of the modern mining sector is an essential
prerequisite for any sustained large-scale increase
in production by the metallurgical industry.
204. The main problems in increasing the sup-
ply, variety, and quality of metallurgical products
in the near future are: (a) putting into operation
modern finishing mills (b) training additional
metallurgists and skilled production workers, and
(c) securing the additional equipment and tech-
nology needed for the production of the more
sophisticated metals and alloys. China probably
has available‘ suflicient metallurgical competence
and the necessary equipment, including vacuum
melting equipment, to producesmall quantities of
superalloys, electrical steels, and stainless steels.
However, substantial increases in high-grade alloy
steel production will depend on expansion of ca-
pacity, primarily electric furnace capacity; there is
no evidence that an expansion program is currently
taking place even -though production of alloy steels
is believed to be roughly equal to the former peak
year of 1960. Most of the equipment is available
in the Free World; but, to the extent that such
expansion would involve the acquisition of vacuum-
type electric furnaces, COCOM restrictions would
be an inhibiting factor. Expansion will also be
required in rolling mill capacity, if China is to
meet a large part of its requirements for certain
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types of finished steel—particularly sheet and
strip—from domestic production. The expansion
in rolling capacity will require imports of equip-
ment and/ or complete plants. Several years will
be required before rolling capacity can be in-
creased, because 2 to 4 years of leadtime is required
to design, manufacture, and install a modern large-
capacity rolling mill.
205. b. cHEM1cALs—The technological develop-
ment of China’s chemical industry lagged behind
that of other heavy industries up to 1960. In gen-
eral, China is 10 to 15 years behind the West in
chemical engineering. Although considerable prog-
ress was made in the production of basic chemi-
cals, the Chinese neglected some key sectors, such
as chemical fertilizers, plastics, and chemical fibers.
Since 1960, the Chinese have emphasized the im-
portance of chemicals in increasing agricultural
yields and as substitutes for natural products.
They have established programs to convert ma-
chinery plants to the production of fertilizer equip-
ment and to import chemical plants from the Free
World.
206. Production of chemical fertilizers was only
about 2.9 million tons in 1963. Most of the in-
crease in production achieved since 1960 has been
obtained through fuller use of existing plants; at-
tempts to enlarge productive capacity through
domestic resources have yielded only small results
to the present. l
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