fficient utilization of the timber and the
expansion of wood processing, including the manufacture of plywood,
chipboard, and furniture, the value of the output, nevertheless,
increased substantially. Exports of lumber and wood products accounted
for 13.4 percent of total exports in 1970, but this ratio is scheduled
to decline to 6 percent in 1975, not because of a reduction in the
volume of these exports but as a result of a planned expansion of other
industrial and food product exports.

ELECTRIC POWER

Electrical power development has proceeded at a rapid pace. The
installed generating capacity of 7.3 million kilowatts in 1970 was four
times larger than the capacity available a decade earlier. Eighty-four
percent of the installed capacity in 1970 was in thermal power plants,
and the remaining 16 percent, in hydroelectric stations. Hydroelectric
capacity development had been relatively more rapid, with a sixfold
increase during the decade.

The production of electrical energy increased even faster than installed
capacity because newly built plants operated at greater efficiency. The
output of 35 billion kilowatt-hours in 1970 was 4.6 times greater than
output in 1960. Power output is scheduled to reach 58 billion to 60.8
billion kilowatt-hours in 1975. These figures imply an average annual
increase in power production of 10.5 to 11.7 percent, compared with an
average increase of 16.5 percent in the 1960-70 period. Thermal power
plants accounted for 92 percent of the output in 1970, and hydroelectric
stations, for only 8 percent. Output per unit of thermal capacity was
more than double that of hydroelectric generators. The total
hydroelectric power potential that could be economically developed has
been estimated at 24 billion kilowatt-hours per year.

The Romanian power grid is connected to the power grids of Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. This tie-in makes possible a more
efficient use of available power through mutual exchanges to equalize
the load and provides some insurance in the event of regional power
failures.

Almost two-thirds of the thermal energy output in 1970 was based on
natural gas fuel, and one-third, on coal--mostly coal of very low
quality. Less than 3 percent of the fuel used was accounted for by oil.
The proportion of natural gas in the fuel balance was roughly the same
as in 1960 but ten percentage points lower than in 1965. The share of
coal, particularly of low-grade coal, ha