Foreign trade of the USSR in agricultural products in the period 1941-1945

Chistyakov Yurii Federovich ORCID: 0000-0003-0339-9646 PhD in Economics Senior Scientific Associate, Institute of Economics of Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences 620014, Russia, Sverdlovskaya oblast', g. Ekaterinburg, ul. Moskovskaya, 29, of. 406 uch1961@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

The USSR's import and export of food and agricultural raw materials in the period 1941-45 developed under the influence of two global geopolitical conflicts: the Great Patriotic War and the War with Japan, as well as the political and economic consequences of these conflicts. Unlike in previous years, in the foreign trade of the USSR during this period there was a significant predominance of imports of more types of agricultural products over exports of similar goods. Imports of these products to the USSR came mainly as part of the supplies of the allies – the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, under lend-lease. There were also some other channels for importing agricultural imports. Exports of agricultural raw materials and food, having significantly decreased compared to previous years, nevertheless continued, albeit in small volumes.

Despite the presence of a certain amount of memoir literature – memoirs of war participants and business leaders of that period, Russian studies of food lend-lease in Russia have appeared only in recent decades. Basically, the sources of statistical data on import receipts of agricultural raw materials, food and a number of other related lend-lease goods are foreign publications containing incomplete information. Agricultural exports were practically not considered by researchers due, among other things, to the small volume of such supplies.

However, in recent decades, publicly available Russian archival statistical sources of the post-war period have appeared, containing extensive material on the import and export of food, agricultural raw materials and related goods during the war years.

In this regard, it became possible to more fully analyze the main characteristics of exports and imports of agricultural raw materials and food for 1941-45. The main purpose of the study is to identify trends in the volume of imports and exports of agricultural raw materials, food and related goods, to determine the commodity structure and geography of imports and exports of these goods. The object of the study is:  import receipts and export supplies of food products, agricultural raw materials, live animals and similar products from the USSR during the Great Patriotic War, the War with Japan and until the end of 1945. In connection with the goal we have set, the following research tasks are set: 1. A brief review of research on this topic. 2. Characteristics of sources and methods of their processing. 3. Analysis of changes in the volume, structure and geography of exports and imports of agricultural raw materials, food and similar goods in 1941-45. Identification of the role of imports in the total volume of agricultural and food resources of the country.

The scientific significance and relevance of the study lies in the fact that: 1. It became possible to show more clearly the role of agricultural imports in the country's resource base in 1941-45. 2. If we consider the large, long-term trends in the development of agricultural and food foreign trade of the USSR in 1918-1991, it should be noted that against the background of the predominance of agricultural exports, periods of predominance of imports of this type of products appear. The first such period was recorded in 1919-21, the second, longer and larger - in 1941-45. These periods were temporary and were primarily associated with unfavorable climatic, economic (the first period) and geopolitical factors (the second period). From 1971 until the end of the USSR's existence in 1991, a period of constant and increasing predominance of imports in the country's agricultural foreign trade began. For the independent Russian Federation, the predominance of imports in agricultural foreign trade continued until the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century. In this regard, the analysis of the period 1941-45 - the first period of a long-term large-scale import "stuffing" of food and agricultural raw materials, is of interest both for analyzing the patterns of long-term changes in the structure and dynamics of agricultural foreign trade of the USSR and modern Russia, and for forecasting further macro trends in the development of food foreign trade of the Russian Federation and the former Soviet Union republics.

A brief review of the literature

The basis of the USSR's imports during the war period was the supply of a number of countries of the anti-Hitler coalition under lend-lease. N.A.Voznesensky expressed his attitude to the importance of such supplies for the USSR economy shortly after the Great Patriotic War: "the share of these supplies in relation to domestic production during the war economy will be only about 4%" ^{[1, p. 74]}. The author did not mention the food supplies of the Western allies. Despite the recognition by a number of Soviet party and economic leaders (N.S. Khrushchev, A.I. Mikoyan, etc.) ^{[2, p. 467; 3, p. 70]} of the important role of food lend-lease in the supply of the rear and the army, these supplies were rarely mentioned in Soviet historiography and any detailed statistical data in this regard no connection was given. As noted by Lend-Lease historiography researcher P.M. Golovatina: "it should be noted that there is a clear lack and in many cases lack of statistical data on the distribution and use of supplies ... during the war years in and immediately after it in Soviet historiography" ^{[4, p. 12]}. This statement concerned, first of all, lend-lease in general, but it is even more true in relation to food supplies.

As an example of the completeness of Soviet statistics on Soviet agricultural imports and exports in 1941-45, consider the section on foreign trade of the USSR (including lend-lease), vol. 5 of the academic publication "History of the Socialist Economy of the USSR", during the Great Patriotic War ^{[5, pp. 771-780]}. Regarding the specific figures of import and export volumes, this material provides only scattered data on various types of products, which do not allow us to identify general trends in the import and export of various products. There is even less data on non–military products, including food. For a number of countries, for example, on foreign trade with Mongolia and Iran, a more detailed description of USSR imports from these countries is given – a more detailed enumeration of the range of goods supplied from these countries to the USSR is given.  For lend-lease supplies from the Western Allies, the data mainly relate to industrial products. In some cases, the total volume of product supplies is given in relative figures – as a percentage, which makes it difficult to calculate the absolute volume of supplies - for example, ^{[5, p.777]}. In general, this section also provides sketchy data on food and agricultural products. However, it is possible to use general data on the volume of all exports and imports in value terms relative to previous years.

Lend-Lease's foreign historiography is more extensive and covers various areas of military cooperation between the Western allies and the USSR regarding various types of military assistance to the Soviet Union. The characteristics of the Anglo-American historiography of lend-lease are given, in particular, in the article by P.M. Golovatina and V.D. Kamynin ^[6]. We are also interested in studies containing statistical material characterizing the supply of agricultural raw materials and food to the Soviet Union under the lend-lease program.

Some data characterizing American food supplies to the Soviet Union were already contained in one of the first works describing American lend-lease, the book "Lend–lease: Weapons of Victory" (1944) by E. Stettinius, head of the Office for the Implementation of the Lend-Lease Act ^[7]. Information on the types of agricultural products and the volume of food supplies was also available in the works of R. Jones ^[8], H. van Tuill ^[9] and A. Sutten ^[10]. L. Collingham also writes about food lend-lease ^[11]. Foreign researchers differed in their estimates of the nomenclature and volume of Western food aid to the USSR. As M.V. Gurina noted, "Western historians have figures for all Allied food supplies ranging from 3.9 to 5.5 million tons" ^{[12, p. 57]}.

After the 90s of the twentieth century, a new stage begins in the national historiography of lend-lease. There are a large number of publications devoted to this topic. However, in most of these works, food lend-lease is on the periphery of the study and the statistics provided in these works were general and sketchy. For example, in N.V. Butenina's monograph "Lend-lease: the Deal of the Century" (2004), devoted to American lend-lease supplies to Great Britain and the USSR, the appendices show the total cost volumes of American food and agricultural products supplies over a number of years ^{[13, c 282, 285, 287, 288-289]} B.V. Sokolov, in his work "Secrets of the Second World War", devoted to controversial issues of the history of this period, in the chapter on lend-lease, gives a brief description of food supplies to the USSR during the Great Patriotic War ^{[14, p. 213]}. A very brief description of such supplies, with reference to N.I. Ryzhkov and G.A. Kumanev, is given in his article by G.G. Popov ^{[15, p. 47]}.

In addition to general works devoted to lend-lease, a number of publications appeared during this period devoted directly to food lend-lease in 1941-45. First of all, it is necessary to mention the article by M.N. Suprun "Food supplies to the USSR under lend-lease during the Second World War" ^[16]. The article provides data on the nomenclature and volumes of food supplies from the USA, Great Britain and Canada for 1941-45, but without a breakdown by year, therefore it is not possible to identify the dynamics of supplies ^{[16, pp. 50-52]}. In the article by M.V. Gurina "Food lend-lease from the USA" ^[12], according to data taken from the book by J. Jordan ^[17], provides statistics on the export of lend-lease food products by large commodity groups for the entire supply period. But these statistics apply only to the United States and there is also no breakdown by year. N.I. Ryzhkov and G.A. Kumanev in their publication on food lend-lease also provide general statistics on lend-lease food supplies by large commodity groups and more detailed ones on supplies from the United States [18. pp. 120-121]. There is also no breakdown by year. In the article by E.M. Shchagin ^[19], where, among other things, the topic of food lend-lease is also considered, only a number of generalized fragmentary data are provided, with reference to the already mentioned book by J. Jordan ^{[19, p. 515]}. Finally, the recently published monograph by I.V. Bystrova "Lend-lease for the USSR: Economy, technology, people (1941-1945)" also provides general statistics on food supplies in the context of large commodity groups for the entire supply period. In addition, the cost volumes of supplies are also given here ^{[20, pp. 259-261]}.

Thus, the statistical data on lend-lease supplies to the USSR, given in the literature, have significant drawbacks. These include: the lack of a breakdown by year, which makes it impossible to identify trends in supply volumes and their cost; the absence in some cases of an indicator of the cost of supplies; in many cases, the statistics provided do not apply to all countries that carried out food supplies under lend-lease;  In many cases, the authors use foreign sources of supply statistics; the data provided differ in terms of nomenclature and volumes of supplies. In addition, the import of agricultural raw materials and food was carried out not only within the framework of lend-lease, although this supply channel was the leading one.

As for the export of food and agricultural raw materials, due to the insignificance of its volume, there was practically no analysis of statistical data on this component of foreign trade.

Analysis of sources and methods of their processing

During the existence of the USSR in the post-war period, one of the most complete sources of foreign trade statistics of the state was the yearbooks "Foreign trade of the USSR for ... year. Statistical Review", published by the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the USSR. However, the first such yearbook was published in 1955, i.e. a long time after the period under review. In the pre-war period, yearbooks of foreign trade statistics of this kind were also issued. The closest to the war period of 1941-45 is the collection of foreign trade statistics "Foreign trade of the USSR for 1918-1940. Statistical Review" ^[21], issued by the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the USSR in 1960. The same department in the 60s and 80s of the twentieth century published generalizing collections of foreign trade statistics – "Foreign Trade of the USSR. 1918-1966" ^[22] and "Foreign Trade of the USSR for 1922-1981" ^[23]. These last two collections contain information about the country's foreign trade in the pre-war period. However, there are practically no statistics for the period 1941-45 in them. The first collection contains only figures on the total value of exports and imports of the country as a whole in 1941-45 by year. In the second, due to the peculiar format of the presentation of statistical data (in 1922-1970. in the collection, data are given with a ten-year interval – 1922, 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970 and 1975, and then by year), the war period was skipped.

However, in the last decade, two archival documents containing detailed statistics of the USSR's foreign trade for the period 1941-45 have become publicly available. The first document was compiled by the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the USSR in 1946. The collection "Foreign trade of the USSR for the period from 22 - VI – 1941 to 31 – XII – 1945. Statistical reference book (according to operational accounting data)" ^[24]. The second document is the "Report on imports and exports from the USSR during the years of the Patriotic War (1941-1945)", sent on July 6, 1946 to the Minister of Foreign Trade of the USSR A.I. Mikoyan ^[25]. For the period 1941-44, the figures in the Report are similar to the data in the Statistical Handbook, but for 1945, the data in the Report (unlike the statistical handbook) are incomplete – the last 2 months are missing. In this regard, the first source is mainly used in this work.

The statistical handbook contains cost data and data in natural units on the import and export of various types of products for the entire period from 06/22/1941 to 12/31/1945. We used data on the following commodity groups: food products, live cattle and poultry, leather raw materials and leather products, spinning materials and finished products, a number of types of agricultural products are also shown in the "Miscellaneous" group. First, the total for the group is given in physical and monetary terms, then there is a breakdown by specific goods. Imports and exports of individual goods are shown as a whole in value and in kind, and then by country. The cost volumes are given in thousands of rubles, and the natural volumes are in units of measurement adopted in the USSR (tons, thousands of tons, pieces, thousands of pieces, etc.). The time chronology of the data is as follows: at the beginning – in total - from 22. 06. 1941 to 31. 12. 1945, then by year. There is a slightly different chronological breakdown for exports – after All, there is the following annual breakdown: from 22 .06. 1941 – 31. 12. 1943, then 1944 and 1945. In addition, the import of products into the country was given in several directions: official imports, supplies not included in official imports (from Iran), supplies through UNRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) and gifts.

The second document contains the general results of the USSR's foreign trade for 1941-1945.

In the article, the structure of data presentation from sources is as follows: Block 1 – the general structure of imports and exports of agricultural raw materials and food for 1941-45 in value terms for the following commodity groups: foodstuffs, live cattle and poultry, raw materials of vegetable and animal origin, leather raw materials, spinning goods - raw materials.  The indicators are given  according to the following chronology: 1940, 22. 06. 1941 – 12/31/1945 (Total), from 06/22/1941, 1942, 1944, 1945. The procedure for obtaining indicators in product groups is shown in Table 1.

Table 1. The procedure for obtaining indicators in product groups

Block 2 is a list of goods of official import and export and natural indicators of total import and export volumes through all channels of receipts and shipments in general for the period under study and by year. The list and volumes of imports of the countries of the largest importers of products (natural indicators) The list of the largest recipient countries of the USSR's products is the total value of the USSR's exports to the country and the list of types of products of the Soviet Union imported into the country.

General characteristics of the USSR's import-export of agricultural raw materials and food in 1941-1945.

During the period under review, there was a significant change in the orientation of the agricultural foreign trade of the USSR. If in 1940 the export of agricultural products exceeded imports, then in 1941-43 it fell by an average of 8 times. Imports also increased significantly in 1944. Their value exceeded the pre-war volume by almost 19 times (Fig.1, Table 2)

Figure 1. Dynamics of changes in exports and imports of agricultural raw materials and food from the USSR (thousand rubles)

Table 2. The volume and structure of imports and exports of agricultural raw materials and food of the USSR in 1940-45. (thousand rubles)

Calculated according to ^[21],[24]

By the end of 1945, imports had decreased by more than 1 billion rubles, and exports slightly exceeded pre-war values. Nevertheless, the value of the export-import balance of agricultural and food foreign trade of the USSR remained sharply negative, imports were almost 5 times higher than exports.

Despite the increase in imports of agricultural raw materials and food, its share in the country's total imports fell from 19.8% in 1940 to 14.4% by the end of 1943, but by 1946 it had increased to 20.8%, restoring the pre-war figure. The share of agricultural and food exports in the total exports of the USSR also fell to an average of 21.1% in 1941-43. By the end of the war period, it was growing to 39.5% (Table 3)

In the general commodity structure of imports, food was the leading type of product – after a significant drop in 1941 compared to the pre-war level, the value of its imports grew rapidly until 1945. Textile and spinning raw materials were in second place - the maximum import of these products occurred in 1942. By 1945, its imports returned to pre–war levels. In third place in the value of imports of agricultural raw materials and food by the USSR were live animals – in contrast to the pre-war period, when the import of live cattle was insignificant. In the last places – the fourth and fifth, there were, respectively, leather raw materials and various raw materials of vegetable and animal origin. The import of raw leather increased in 1941-44, decreased in 1945, but by the end of the war period it was almost 3 times higher than the pre-war level. For most of the period 1941-45, imports of raw materials of plant and animal origin occupied the last place in terms of the share of total imports of agricultural raw materials and food by the USSR. However, in 1945, the value of imports of goods of this group increased 7 times compared to the previous year. According to the representation, the group of raw materials of agricultural and animal origin came in second place after food imports. This happened due to the import of a large batch of tobacco raw materials from Bulgaria in 1945 in the amount of 307 102 thousand rubles.

In exports, after a sharp drop in the average annual exports of goods of all groups in 1941-43, the overall distribution of all commodity groups remained unchanged compared to the pre-war period. By 1944, food was in the first place in exports, vegetable and animal raw materials were in the second, spinning raw materials were in the third, and leather raw materials were in the fourth. In 1944, there was a slight increase in exports of all commodity groups compared with the average annual figures of 1941-43. The export structure changed slightly – the export of textile and spinning raw materials came in second place after the export of food, the export of raw materials of vegetable and animal origin was in third place, and the export of leather raw materials was in fourth place. In 1945, there was a further increase in exports of textile raw materials and in terms of value, these exports came out on top, almost twice exceeding the pre-war level. In terms of value, exports of goods from other groups were below the pre-war level.

Commodity structure and geography of USSR imports of agricultural raw materials and food in 1941-45.

As noted earlier, the leading place in the import of agricultural products of the USSR during the war period was occupied by food.

Table 3. Dynamics and geography of official food imports (including lend-lease) of the USSR in 1941-45 (thousand tons)

Source: calculated according to ^[24]

As can be seen from Table 3, the general dynamics of natural volumes of food imports of the USSR during the war years repeats the cost dynamics of the entire group of agricultural raw materials and food products - a rapid increase in imports of this group of goods in 1941-44. Reaching the maximum volume of supplies in 1944 and a reduction in food imports in 1945. Among the countries that were the largest importers of food in the USSR during the entire war period, the United States was in first place, Canada was in second, Great Britain was in third and Iran was in fourth place. However, in the first year of the war, the main food suppliers were Great Britain and Iran, and the supplies themselves were insignificant. In 1942-1944, the food supplies of the USA and Canada were growing, while those of Great Britain were declining. In 1945, these supplies to most countries were declining, while Canada's remained at the level of the previous year.

The commodity structure of food imports into the country was extremely diverse. In the source used in the article ^[24], food imports were divided into 12 groups:

Group 1 – grain and bread products. It included the following products – wheat, rice, wheat flour, soy flour, soybeans, grain fodder. The largest importers of this group of goods in the USSR were the USA, Canada, and Iran.

Group 2 is sugar. The largest importers are the USA and England.

Group 3 – dry beans. The largest importers are the USA, Bulgaria (in 1945).

4 the group of cereals is different. The largest importers are the USA and Canada

Group 5 – meat products. It included the following products: canned meat and meat and vegetables, dry meat, bacon and hams, smoked and salted. The largest importer is the USA.

Group 6 – animal fats. It included: bacon, lard, beef and mutton lard, butter, carterspread, other animal fats. The largest importers are the USA, Canada.

Group 7 – vegetable fats. It included: vegetable oils, shortening. The largest importers are the USA, Great Britain, and Argentina.

Group 8 – margarine. The largest importer is the USA

Group 9 – dairy products. It included: powdered milk, canned milk, cheese. The largest importer is the USA.

Group 10 – fish products. The largest importer is Iran

Group 11 – food concentrates. This group included: concentrated soups, concentrated porridges, tomato powder, tomato puree and paste, fruit juices, lemon powder, citric acid, ascorbic acid, various vitamins, riboflavin, dry vegetables, dry yeast, army rations, self-heating soups and egg powder. The largest importer is the USA.

Group 12 – other food products. This group included: dried fruits, canned fruits, canned vegetables, fresh fruits, processed fruits, bananas, grapes, fresh and canned pineapples, fresh vegetables, various nuts and apricot kernel, groundnut, kola nut, tea, coffee, coffee substitutes, cocoa beans, chocolate, saccharin, vanillin, spices, almonds sweet, various spices, copra, palm kernel, black pepper, allspice, red pepper, fish oil, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf, food gelatin, vinegar, mustard, olives, pasta, starch, corn starch, soy sauce, salt, grape vodka, grape wine, alcohol, cakes and bran. The largest importer is the USA.

Let's analyze the dynamics of food supplies. First of all, it should be noted that imported raw materials and food were supplied to the USSR through various channels. First of all, it was an official import. In addition, the volume of supplies from Iran was not included in the official imports. There were also reparations supplies from Germany's allies, supplies through the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), gifts (through British and American trade unions, the International Red Cross, etc.). However, food imports through these channels were insignificant and were carried out mainly in 1944 and 1945. The exception was the supply of grain by Romania and Hungary in 1945. due to reparations, 325 thousand tons were imported into the USSR. The total results of food imports through all import channels in 1941-45 in natural units are presented in Table.4. The breakdown by food groups is basically the same as the grouping shown above. The difference between the grouping in the table is that cereals and dry beans are combined with grain and bread products into one group.

As can be seen from Table 4, the basis of food imports of the USSR during this period consisted of 4 large types of food – cereals, flour, cereals; animal fats, vegetable and margarine; meat products and sugar. They accounted for 91.6% of all food imports.

Figure 2. Dynamics of USSR imports in 1941-45 of grain, flour, cereals; sugar, meat products and fats (thousand tons)

The dynamics of imports of these 4 large types of food is shown in Fig.2. Grain imports grew at the fastest pace. After 1944, its growth decreased slightly, since the reduction in grain supplies by the Allies was compensated by grain reparations from Hungary and Romania. The remaining supplies of food types began to decline. The import of fats decreased especially sharply in 1945. The supply of meat products and sugar in 1941-43 grew more slowly and the reduction in imports in 1945 was smooth.

Table 4. Food imports of the USSR in 1941 - 1945 by all revenue channels (thousand tons)

Source: calculated according to ^[24]

The next type of import of agricultural raw materials and food is live animals. The import of animals and poultry in the pre-war period was insignificant. During the war period, the import of animals increased significantly. This type of product was significantly different from food in terms of the composition of importing countries. During the war period, the following types of animals were imported: Cattle and small cattle. The largest importers are Mongolia, Xinjiang (a quasi-state, located in the territory of the modern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China during the interwar and war period), Iran; Horses are workers. The largest importers are Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tuva; Meat horses. The largest importers are Mongolia, Tuva, Iran; Donkeys and mules. The largest importer is Iran; Camels were imported from Iran and Xinjiang; foals and calves were imported from Xinjiang; Pigs were imported from Iran and Xinjiang; marals were imported from Tuva; Chickens were imported from the USA.

In addition, cattle, horses, pigs, and sheep were supplied from Romania under reparations.

For the convenience of presentation, we grouped various types of animals into 5 groups. Cattle and marals were grouped into the group "cattle", small cattle, sheep, foals and calves were grouped into the group "small cattle", horses of all kinds, donkeys, mules and camels were combined into one group. The groups "pigs" and "bird" are also highlighted. The results of the import of all types of live animals for imports and reparations are presented in Table 5.

Table 5. Imports of live animals from the USSR in 1941-45 by all revenue channels (thousand heads)

Source: calculated according to ^[24]

These tables show that the dynamics of imports of this type of agricultural raw materials is of a different nature than that of the food group. The maximum import of animals occurred in 1942, and then an unstable decline began. A certain increase in the import of animals in 1945 compared to the two previous years was associated with the beginning of the arrival of animals in the USSR for reparations.

The next component of agricultural and food imports of the USSR during the war period is the import of agricultural raw materials of plant and animal origin. This group includes the following plant raw materials: Seeds (the largest importers are the USA, Bulgaria in 1945, Canada), coriander seed (the largest importer is Bulgaria), castor oil (the largest importer is Iran), oilseeds (the largest importers are Iran, Xinjiang), rhubarb (Eastern China), hops (Yugoslavia in 1945), tobacco raw materials (England, Bulgaria – in 1945, Yugoslavia – in 1945). The following goods belonged to animal raw materials: bristles (the largest importers are Eastern China, Xinjiang), hair (the largest importers are Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tuva), intestines (Xinjiang, Mongolia, Eastern China).

The following grouping of similar products is made for the table: coriander seed, castor oil and oilseeds are combined into the group "oilseeds", bristles, hair, intestines are combined into one group. The natural volume of imports of intestines has been recalculated based on the standard of 1 thousand bundles = 3 tons.

Imports of plant and animal raw materials, which had small volumes at the beginning of the war period, gradually increased.

In 1945, this growth accelerated due to an increase in imports of products from a number of Eastern European countries liberated by the Soviet Army at that time.

Table 6. USSR imports of agricultural raw materials of plant and animal origin in 1941-1945 (thousand tons)

Source: calculated according to ^[24]

The USSR's imports of raw leather in 1941-45 consisted of three main types of goods – coarse leather, fine leather and hard leather. The largest importers of the first type were: Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tuva. The second type is Mongolia, Xinjiang, Iran, and the third is the United States and Argentina.

Table 7. USSR imports of leather raw materials in 1941 – 1945

Source: ^[24]

The dynamics of changes in this group was as follows: the first two types had dynamic changes according to the type of the previous three commodity groups: The maximum volume of supplies was reached in 1942, then an unstable decline occurred. The third type of product had a different dynamics – the maximum of imports was reached in 1944 and then there was a decline (according to the type of dynamics of changes in food exports).

USSR imports of textile and spinning raw materials of the USSR during the war period consisted of 6 types of goods. These include: jute (supplies from England), hemp (the largest importers are the Philippines, Yugoslavia), sisal (England, Mexico), cotton (Afghanistan, Xinjiang), wool (Mongolia, England, Xinjiang. Raw silk and mulberry cocoons were also imported (Xinjiang and Iran).

Table 8. USSR imports of textile and spinning raw materials in 1941 – 1945 (thousand tons)

Source: calculated according to ^[24]

Wool was the most important type of imported textile raw materials for the USSR economy. One of the largest suppliers of this type of product was England. The maximum import of textile and spinning raw materials by the USSR occurred in 1942. Then there was a gradual decrease in the volume of imports of goods of this group.

The structure and geography of exports of the USSR in 1941 – 1945.

As noted above, in the twofold period, in 1940, exports exceeded imports. However, during the initial period of hostilities, exports fell significantly. On average, in 1941-43, the decline in annual export volumes fell by 8 times compared to the level of 1940.

The main goods exported during the war period are shown in Table 9.

Table 9. USSR exports of basic agricultural raw materials and foodstuffs in 1941-1945 (tons)

Source: ^[24]

When considering the data in Table 9, attention is drawn to the fact that a significant part of the exported goods were also imported. It is possible that in some cases we are dealing with the hidden re-export of some products. In addition, it can be seen that in 1945, exports of most goods increased compared to the previous year. In some cases significantly.

Let's now consider the geography of the USSR's exports during the war years. Exports of agricultural raw materials and foodstuffs in 1941-45 were carried out to 19 countries. Among them were both the developed countries of Europe and Server America – members of the anti-Hitler coalition, as well as the Asian countries neighboring the USSR, as well as the countries of Eastern Europe liberated by the Soviet army.

Table 10. The total volume of exports of agricultural raw materials and food to the USSR by country in 1941-1945. (thousand rubles)

Source: ^[24]

As can be seen from Table 10, exports of agricultural raw materials and food to three groups of countries developed most actively in 1941-1945: throughout the entire period of the war - to the USA and England on the one hand, and on the other hand – to such Asian countries as Iran, Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tuva; in 1945 – to such countries of Eastern and Southern Europe as:  Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia. Let's consider the structure of agar products supplied to these groups of countries.

Table 11. The list of agricultural raw materials and food products supplied by the USSR to the USA and England in 1941 - 1945.

Source: ^[24]

Table 12. The list of agricultural raw materials and food products supplied by the USSR to Iran, Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tuva in 1941 - 1945.

Source: ^[24]

Table 12. The list of agricultural raw materials and foodstuffs supplied by the USSR to Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia in 1941 - 1945.

Source: ^[24]

As the data in Tables 10-12 show, the structure of agricultural exports to these three groups of countries was of a different nature. If the USSR supplied mainly textile and animal raw materials to the USA and England, often for specific purposes, and the food was of a delicatessen nature (caviar, canned crab), then generally common types of food and a small amount of leather raw materials were supplied to the neighboring countries of the USSR. The USSR also exported commonly used types of food and textile raw materials to the countries of Eastern and Southern Europe. Agricultural exports of the USSR to neighboring Asian countries,  Eastern and Southern Europe, therefore, was more of a food aid to friendly countries.

The role of agricultural and food imports in supplying the USSR economy during the war period.

The question of the importance of agricultural and food imports of the USSR for the Soviet economy in 1941-45 began to be raised quite a long time ago as part of the study of lend–lease problems. In this context, the question of the importance of Allied food supplies for the supply of the Soviet rear and army was raised. Such assessments were given by both Western researchers and Soviet and Russian authors. The range of estimates is quite large here. So, back in the "History of the Socialist Economy of the USSR" in the volume devoted to the pre-war and war period, published in 1978, it was noted: "The amount of grain, flour and cereals imported from the USA and Canada, for 1941-45, in terms of grain was only 2.8% relative to the average annual grain harvest in the USSR of this period" ^{[5, p. 777]}. The same assessment is repeated in their work by N.I. Ryzhkov and G.A. Kumanev ^{[18, p. 122]}. On the other hand, B.V. Sokolov argues that "only canned meat under lend-lease accounted for about 108% of the total canned food production in the USSR" ^{[14, p. 213]}. E.M. Shchagin writes that "The United States of America in 1941-1945 supplied 1,275 million pounds to the USSR under lend-lease, that is, almost one-fourth of the grain products harvested during the war by the Soviet state" ^{[19, p. 515]}. Regarding meat supplies, the same author writes: "the share of both quantitative and qualitative American supplies to the USSR significantly exceeded the importance of allied grain supplies in the grain balance of our country" ^{[19, p. 522]}. G.G. Popov ^{[15, p. 47]}, M.V. Gurina ^{[12, p. 58]} and others give their estimates of the importance of food supplies under lend-lease. M.N.Suprun makes an interesting, albeit indisputable, attempt to assess the importance of lend-lease food supplies through an indicator of the energy value of food supplied to the USSR ^{[16, p. 53]}. In this regard, it should be noted that a number of authors in their assessments of the importance of food lend-lease rely on foreign data on lend-lease food supplies, which, as already noted, are not complete. In particular, E.M. Shchagin uses data from J. Jordan ^[17].

Without focusing on the topic of food lend-lease, let's try to assess the importance of all imported supplies of agricultural raw materials and food in 1941-45 for the Soviet economy. Imported goods of this type were supplied not only under lend-lease – Iran was a major supplier of agricultural products. Supplies were also carried out from other countries, although lend-lease was a major supply channel.

Such an assessment of the importance of imports of agricultural raw materials and food for the Soviet economy can be based on a comparison of imports of various types of agricultural and food products and domestic production of similar goods. The source of data on the import of such products is the previously mentioned archival document "Foreign trade of the USSR for the period 22 – VI – 1941 to 31 – XII – 1945" ^[24]. Imports are shown here as the sum of the receipts of goods to the USSR through all channels: official imports, supplies not included in imports to Soviet enterprises in Iran, reparations supplies, UNRRA supplies, gifts. The source of data on domestic production was

Table 13. The share of imports of a number of types of food and agricultural raw materials in the domestic production of similar products in the USSR in 1941-45.

Source: calculated from: ^[24],[26].

*-in parentheses - percentage of option 2

 the official statistical collection "The National economy of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945", published in 1990 ^[26].

It should be noted that a similar analysis, using these statistical sources, was carried out in the officially unpublished, publicly available work of Ovsyannikov V.A. "Import of SSR1941 – 1945.Lend-lease"^[27]. This work estimates the total share of imports in the supply of the national economy and the army in various areas, including food and agricultural goods ^[28]. Despite the similarity of the source base of the analysis and the similarity of the results for a number of types of products, our results differ significantly for many types of goods. Apparently, this is due to the discrepancy in some cases of the initial data and the difference in the methodology of their processing.

The author deliberately did not compare the total imports of grain and grain products with the total gross grain harvest for all grain crops, since the main type of grain imported into the USSR was wheat, and the main type of flour was wheat flour, and the indicator of the gross domestic wheat harvest is present in the corresponding statistical collection. Therefore, the percentage of wheat imports to the gross harvest of this crop was estimated. For wheat flour, the percentage of wheat flour imports to the total domestic flour production was calculated according to 2 options: option 1 – comparing the actual import of wheat flour with domestic flour production; option 2 – possible volumes of flour obtained in the country from imported wheat were added to the import of wheat flour (hypothetically, the proportion 50/50 was taken - half of the imported wheat was processed into flour, and half was used for seed purposes).

Domestic sugar production was considered to be the addition of the production of granulated sugar and refined sugar. Rice imports were added to the total volume of grain imports as the basis for the production of rice cereals. The import of meat products included the import of the following goods: canned meat and meat and vegetables, dry meat, bacon and hams, smoked and salted. To these were added: bacon, lard, beef lard and mutton. As an indicator of domestic meat production, the indicator of meat production in slaughter weight in all categories of farms of the USSR was taken. The import of other animal fats was added to the import of butter. A carterspread was added to the import of margarine. The import of vegetable oils was compared with the domestic production of vegetable oil.

The results of comparing the import volumes of a number of types of food and agricultural raw materials are presented in Table 13.

The table data show that for many items, the share of imports in the total volume of food resources of the state was insignificant. In particular, the import of wheat grain for the entire period of military operations 1941-1945 amounted to only 0.6% of the gross wheat harvest during this period. The largest volume of imports of these products was in 1945 - 2.3% of the gross domestic wheat harvest. Flour imports were also insignificant – for the entire period of the war, 1.4 and 1.6% of domestic production according to both calculation options. The import of cereals was slightly higher – 4.7% of domestic production for the entire period 1941-45. In some years, it was even higher – 12.4% of domestic production in 1943 and 9% in 1944. Imports of meat products were high, but not as high as it might seem – 10.7% of domestic production during the entire period of the war, but higher in some war years – 21.9% of domestic production in 1943 and 24.8% in 1944. Butter imports were at about the same level – 11.6% on average for the period 1941-45, but higher in some years – 34.7%% of domestic butter production in 1943 and 20.8% in 1944. Even higher in some years was the import of vegetable oil – 64.6% of domestic production in 1943 and 82.6% in 1944, with a total level of 25.1% for 1941-45. The share of imports in the domestic production of sugar and margarine was the highest in some years. Margarine imports, with a total of 28.3% of domestic production during the war period, amounted to 62.7% of domestic production in 1943, and 120% in 1944, i.e. imports exceeded domestic production. Sugar imports were the most significant in the volume of domestic production - 31% for the entire period of the war, 104.2% in 1942, 92.6% in 193 and 94% in 1944. Imports of the only non–food product in the table - wool in 1941-1945 amounted to 19.9% and in 1942-44 ranged between 21 and 27.6%.

Thus, despite the high levels of imports of a number of types of food relative to domestic production, there was no total dependence of the USSR economy on imported food – the level of imports of the most important types of food – flour, cereals, meat products, butter, relative to their domestic production was low or average.

In conclusion of this section, it should be emphasized that the analysis of the import weight in the food supply of the USSR in 1941-1945 carried out here is preliminary. For a more complete and accurate clarification of the issue, a separate study is needed involving a large number of domestic and foreign sources.

The role of the 1941 – 1945 period in the general megatrends of the development of agricultural and food foreign trade of the USSR/RSFSR in 1918 – 1991

In contrast to the period of the existence of the Russian Empire, the export of which in the XIX – early XX centuries.  It was agrarian in nature and, starting from the 70s of the XIX century, showed significant growth, especially accelerated in the early twentieth century. Trends in the development of foreign trade in agricultural and food foreign trade of Soviet Russia and especially the USSR over the entire period of its existence were more complex. During the period of the NEP policy, agricultural exports resumed and grew for some time, although at a slower pace than at the beginning of the twentieth century. After another period of growth in 1930-32, agricultural exports are falling. The share of agricultural products in the total exports of the USSR of that period is also falling. Due to the implementation of the industrialization policy, the country's exports are becoming more industrial. After the Second World War, exports of agricultural products grew unevenly again, until a rapid increase in grain imports began in 1971, and then in the 70s – 80s - an increase in imports of other types of agricultural raw materials and food. From 1971 to 1991, a period of sharp and rapidly growing predominance of imports over exports of agricultural products began in the USSR's foreign trade in agricultural raw materials and food (for megatrends and cyclical development of agricultural foreign trade of the Russian Empire and the USSR, see a number of works by the author ^[29],[30]). The modern states of the "post-Soviet space", including the independent Russian Federation, inherited from the USSR the predominance of agricultural imports over exports. However, the situation has worsened even more here – if during the last decades of the USSR's existence, the main type of agricultural imports was agricultural raw materials – grain, the import of which to the USSR in 1985 reached a huge figure of 47 million tons, then after the collapse of the USSR in Russia and a number of other former Soviet republics in 1992-93, grain imports sharply It is declining and disappearing, but the rapid growth of imports of a wide range of finished meat and dairy products is beginning. In Russia, only after 2015, due to the growth of grain exports, the value of the export-import balance of the country's agricultural foreign trade became positive (for current trends in agricultural foreign trade of the states of the "post-Soviet space" and Russia, see ^[31],[32]).

However, let's return to the period considered in the article. In general, until 1971, exports dominated the USSR's foreign trade in agricultural raw materials and food. However, short-term periods of significant predominance of agricultural imports over exports periodically occurred. As a rule, these periods were caused by extreme climatic, economic, socio-economic, geopolitical factors or their combination. The first period of predominance of agricultural imports over exports in Russia's agricultural foreign trade was in 1919 – 1922 and was associated with a combination of natural and climatic (drought in the Volga region) and economic (consequences of the policy of "war communism" for the peasant economy) factors. The second period of 1941-1945 was primarily associated with the influence of geopolitical factors (the Great Patriotic War and the Soviet-Japanese War), which entailed economic and socio-economic consequences. The third period was 1964 – 66, when the USSR imported grain for the first time on a large scale for several years. This period was caused by economic factors – the consequences of Khrushchev's agrarian policy in the last years of his reign. Of these periods, the period considered in the article was the largest and longest. The study of these periods (including the period 1941-45) will allow for a more thorough study of the long-term trends in the development of agricultural foreign trade of the Russian Empire, the USSR, the modern Russian Federation and the former Soviet republics over a long historical period. These periods were, as it were, the "forerunners" of the radical change in the structure and orientation of the USSR's agricultural foreign trade that occurred after 1971.

Conclusion

In the course of carrying out the research tasks using Russian archival sources, changes in the cost and commodity structure of imports of agricultural raw materials and food of the USSR in 1941 – 1945 were analyzed. The geography of imports of agricultural products of the USSR during this period is shown. The geography and commodity structure of agricultural exports of the USSR during the war period are shown. The structural features of agricultural and food exports of the USSR by country groups are revealed. The role of agricultural and food imports in the supply of the USSR economy in the period 1941-45 was defined in a new way. It is concluded that, despite the high levels of imports of a number of types of food relative to domestic production, there was no total dependence of the USSR economy on imported food – the level of imports of the most important types of food – flour, cereals, meat products, butter relative to their domestic production was low or average. The role of the studied period in the general long-term trends in the development of agricultural and food foreign trade of the country during a long historical period is shown.

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