In line with the government's priorities, production of capital goods increased at an annual (official) rate of 14.2 percent, and that of consumer goods advanced by 10.2 percent. The proportion of capital goods in the total output therefore increased from 62.9 percent in 1960 to 70.6 percent in 1970; it is scheduled to reach 72.8 percent by 1975. Although the output of consumer goods increased 2.6 times during the ten-year period, the availability of goods to consumers did not rise proportionately because an increasing volume was exported to pay for imports of machinery and raw materials. Shortages of consumer goods, including foodstuffs, were not eliminated by 1971. The output of newly introduced products, such as chemicals and television sets, increased more rapidly in the 1960s than did the output of traditional items (see table 13).
Improving the quality of manufactured products has been a major concern of the party and government, particularly from the point of view of competitiveness in foreign markets. With some exceptions, such as men's and women's knitwear, a lack of competitiveness was clearly demonstrated in mid-1971 by the results of a giant Romanian trade exhibition in Duesseldorf, West Germany. This exhibit was reported to have achieved just the reverse of what was intended and to have demonstrated the inferiority of Romanian goods compared to Western European and Japanese products. Quality considerations, however, did not inhibit an attempt to market a Romanian-built motor vehicle of the jeep type in the United States.
Table 13. Output of Selected Industrial Products in Romania, 1960 and 1969
| Product | Unit of Measure | 1960 | 1969 |
| Pig iron | thousand metric tons | 1,014 | 3,477 |
| Steel | thousand metric tons | 1,806 | 5,540 |
| Coal and lignite | thousand metric tons | 6,768 | 16,976 |
| Crude oil | thousand metric tons | 11,500 | 12,346 |
| Natural gas | billion cubic feet | 365 | 850 |
| Electricity | million kilowatt-hours | 7,650 | 31,509 |
| Fertilizers¹ | thousand metric tons | 71 | 720 |
| Artificial fibers | thousand metric tons | 4 | 56 |
| Plastics | thousand metric tons | 12 | 137 |
| Synthetic rubber | thousand metric tons | 0 | 55 |
| Tires | thousand units | 743 | 3,166 |
| Paper | thousand metric tons | 140 | 398 |
| Tractors | units | 17,102 | 24,895 |
| Motor vehicles | units | 12,123 | 56,998 |
| Cement | thousand metric tons | 3,054 | 7,515 |
| Timber | million cubic feet | 139 | 186 |
| Textiles | million square yards | 393 | 672 |
| Footwear | million pairs | 30 | 63 |
| Radios | thousand units | 167 | 428 |
| Television sets | thousand units | 15 | 221 |
| Sugar | thousand metric tons | 391 | 428 |
| ¹ In terms of plant nutrients. | |||
| Source: Adapted from Anuarul Statistic al Republicii Socialiste Romania, 1970 (Statistical Yearbook of the Socialist Republic of Romania, 1970), Bucharest, 1970, pp. 186-195. | |||
By decrees issued in 1970 and 1971 the State Inspectorate General for Product Quality was established as an organ of the Council of State with wide powers to establish and enforce quality standards, including the imposition of economic and criminal sanctions. At the same time, the decrees provided that extra payments be made to individuals and groups of workers who turn out products of superior quality. In announcing the creation of the new agency, Romanian commentators remarked that an administrative approach to the solution of the quality problem was made necessary by the failure of other measures.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Section I. SOCIAL