Food-Processing Industry

the industry manufacturing food products, condiments, tobacco, soap and detergents, and perfume and cosmetics.

In prerevolutionary Russia there were more than 300,000 enterprises of the food-processing industry. Most were small establishments and used mainly manual labor. Large factory-like establishments existed for the wine, sugar, confectionery, tobacco, and other branches of the food-processing industry. There were no facilities at all for the manufacture of vitamins, margarine, and food concentrates, and the tea and preserves industries were barely developed. The establishments of the industry were unevenly distributed. Almost all sugar and alcohol production was located in the Ukraine and the central chernozem region. More than 75 percent of all confectionery goods were produced in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Kharkov provinces, and 40 percent of the preserves industry was situated in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Under the five-year plans prior to World War II (1929-early 1941), many enterprises of the food-processing industry were renovated and equipped with high-production machinery. New plants also were built. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45, the fascist Germans seriously damaged the food-processing plant in occupied regions. Production in 1945 was 1.9 times lower than that of 1940, and the production of meat and granulated sugar fell below the 1913 level. After the war, the damaged factories were rebuilt and reequipped, and new plants were constructed.

By 1973 the food-processing industry included more than 11,000 enterprises, with a general work force of 3 million. These included new plants, sovkhoz factories, distributors, research institutions, and administrative offices. Hundreds of production and industrial agriculture organizations were established. On July 1, 1973, the food-processing industry included 2,407 factories and 12,634 mechanized and automated shops. Assembly lines are widely used in the production of butter. Automatic screw presses are used for obtaining vegetable oils from seeds, continuous extraction devices are used for making vegetable oils, and automated lines are set up for bottle washing and for bottling milk, beer, and liqueurs.

Work productivity more than tripled in the period from 1941 to 1973, and gross production almost quintupled. In 1973, the food-processing industry was responsible for 20 percent of the complete industrial output of the USSR. The industry’s access to raw materials is becoming easier; furthermore, the geographic distribution of the various plants and factories has been improved.

The increase in output of the most important food products in the USSR is shown in Table 1. The 1973 production of various food products in socialist countries is shown in Table 2.

The developed capitalist countries have large food-processing industries. The 1973 production of various food products in developed capitalist countries is shown in Table 3.

All the major branches of the food-processing industry in capitalist countries are controlled by a small number of monopolies.