An underlying assumption of this study is that the most favourable location for industry in the Soviet Union is one which minimizes total costs. In the West, the assumption is often made that the most favourable location for an industry is one which maximizes profits. The latter assumption is quite realistic, when used with qualifications, in a competitive situation where no one producer has achieved minimum costs, and where the measure of suitable location is a relative one, based upon financial return relative to a competitor. In the Soviet Union, however, prices and costs are predetermined. Profit maximization comes by...

Industries producing wood products use a wide variety of techniques and processes. In this study, the industries selected are representative of the mechanical and chemical processing (or conversion) of raw wood into a product. Lumber represents the former and pulp and paper collectively represent both, although the majority of pulp in the USSR is produced by chemical processes. Products of these industries can be utilized as raw materials in construction, service, and light industries (for example, building frames, box manufacture, printing, publishing, and allied industries). The industries selected represent, in general, examples of the primary conversion of wood (timber) into...

The location of the chief raw material—roundwood—of the Soviet wood-processing industry can be thought of as the location of the forest, or the location of logging activity. In fact, the two are inseparable. The location of logging activity is important to present raw material assembly, while the location of the general reserve of timber is important for assessing past and future changes in the regional distribution of logging and the wood-processing industry.

Soviet forests are allocated to three main official organizations: (1) central forestry organs (and Regional Economic Councils [Sovnarkhozy] between 1957 and 1965), (2) central non-forestry ministries...

The task of estimating precisely the regional consumption of lumber, paper, and other products is beset with difficulties as specific data on consumption are not published in Soviet official handbooks and must be estimated on the basis of population distribution.

An average figure of per capita consumption of lumber was derived for the entire USSR (see note "a, " Table 19). No attempt was made to weight this figure for individual areas by taking into account broad regional differences in per capita utilization of lumber. Consequently, the regional consumption figures calculated for lumber in Table 19 are only crude approximations....

Description of the location of the market for lumber, paper, and roundwood in unprocessed form has been the final step in preparation for the assessment and explanation of the form of the spatial association between component parts of the wood-processing industry. This chapter will measure and evaluate the orientation of aggregate wood-processing activity, sawmilling, and production of pulp and paper, to their raw materials and markets, and will describe and compare the actual and theoretical flows of roundwood and lumber between various regions of the USSR. Determination of the locational orientation is achieved by use of coefficients of simple, multiple,...

The empirical and theoretical flows of roundwood and lumber suggest that a significant portion of Soviet forest products moves a considerable distance before being consumed in a final form. Much of the wood moving within any economic region is shipped by river (barge and raft), while interregional shipments largely go by rail (Table 29). The concern of this study has been with interregional movements of roundwood and lumber, and consequently with the effect of railway tariff policies on the cost of moving these products. It is necessary, therefore, to examine the concepts underlying Soviet rail freight rates (particularly with reference...

The purpose of this investigation has been to analyze transport costs as a factor in the location and flow patterns of the Soviet wood-processing industry. Although the role of transport costs in the spatial organization of the wood-processing industry has been given particular attention, the analysis has relevance to the general problem of the structure and influence of transport costs in industrial location per se. Toward an understanding of the general problem, this study has attempted to evaluate the relationship between freight rate structure, weight-loss and the value of a commodity, and the location of a major processing industry. Although...