Poland Industry
Although the country is rich in mining products, the most important industry is the textile industry, which must import the raw material from abroad. The textile industry is very ancient in Poland, where weaving had already developed considerably in the Middle Ages. From 1835, the mechanical work gradually replaced the mechanical one, and the large, well-equipped factories began to make an unsustainable competition with the small industry, for which the decline began. After the customs barrier with Russia was abolished, an immense market was opened up for the Polish textile industry, benefiting enormously also from the heavy taxes established in 1877 by Russia on fabrics imported from abroad. Of course, production had to adapt to the needs of the market, and he gave above all coarse fabrics: the fine fabrics came from abroad. After the reconstitution of Poland, conditions have changed profoundly, and the textile industry has had to reorganize and modify itself according to the needs of the internal market. Łódź is without comparison the most important center of this industry, which arose there on the initiative of Germans at the beginning of the century. XIX. The cotton mill prevails, but the wool, jute and linen industries are also important. Other major production centers are Bielsko-Biała in Silesia (wool, silk, jute), Warsaw (cotton, wool, silk and linen), Białystok (wool), Częstochowa (cotton, silk, linen, jute). Cotton mills are then found in Stanisławów; wool mills in Kalisz, Tomaszów, Żyrardów, Jarosław and Kołomyja; mills in Pabjanice, Tarnów, Przemyśl, Lviv, etc. In 1932 there were 2268 textile factories (most of them small), with 109,843 workers and 7304. employees; the cotton mill has 1,797,000 spindles and 42,000 looms, the wool mill has 900,000 spindles and 18,000 looms. Among other things, 947,000 q. of yarn (of which 430,000 of cotton and 212,000 of wool) and 536,000 q. of fabrics (of which 304,000 of cotton and 103,000 of wool and blends of wool and cotton). Production before the current economic crisis was much higher, although it could not reach the pre-war quantities, due to the much smaller market available.
According to sportsqna, the metallurgical industry is located in Silesia, where Poland has inherited some of the largest construction plants from Germany. Iron metallurgy has (1932) 93 plants, with 31,000 employees; the metallurgy of zinc, lead, etc., of 45 plants, with 6300 employees. There are high furnaces, steel mills, rolling mills, foundries with grandiose and very modern systems, largely due to foreign capital. In 1933, among other things, 306,000 tons were produced. of cast iron (706,000 in 1929), 802,000 tons of steel (1,310,000 in 1929) and 87,000 tons. of tracks (131,000 in 1929), which before the World War were a specialty of the region. The local production of iron ore is not enough for the metallurgical industry, which imports it from Sweden, Russia,
The mechanical industry developed hand in hand with the textile industry, providing the necessary machinery for that factory. They also manufacture agricultural machines and tools, machines for the mining and sugar industries, boilers, steam pumps, railway carriages, locomotives, iron pipes, weapons. The main centers of the mechanical industry are various cities in the SO mining and metallurgical region. (Katowice, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Sosnowiec, Chrzanów, Nowy Chorzów, etc.), some towns in Lesser Poland (Ostrowiec, Starachowice), then Warsaw, Lviv, Poznań, Grudziądz and Łódź.
The chemical industry has abundant raw materials and is favored in its development by the needs of other industries, especially the textile industry, a large consumer of chemical products. Nowy Chorzów produces calcium cyanamide (which replaces the nitrate from Chile), ammonia water, synthetic ammonia, nitric acid, calcium carbide; in Łaziska Górne, calcium carbide, ferrosilicon, tar, explosives; in Kaletye in Czułów, cellulose; in Podgorce, ammonia soda; in Tarnów, nitrogen; in Tomaszów and Włocławek, rayon; in Toruń, sulfuric acid; in Pabjanice and Łódź, colors; in Poznań, fertilizers; in Warsaw, soaps, perfumes, pharmaceuticals. In 1932 11,000 tons were produced. of calcium cyanamide (163,000 tons in 1929), 54,000 tons. of ammonia sulphate, 158,000 tons. of sulfuric acid.
The most notable food industries are those of sugar and alcohol. The first sugar factory was built in 1820 in Galów, in the then Prussian Poland; the first to arise in the Poland of the Congress was that of Częstocice (1826); the large factories only began to appear around 1870. In 1914 there were 86 sugar factories in the Polish territory, which were seriously damaged by the war; in 1933 they were 64 (in business). The largest are in Gostyń, Jarocin, Opalenica and Poznań (Posnania), in Chełmża (Pomerania), in Lviv, in Równe (Volinia). The production of raw sugar between 1927-1928 and 1932-1933 fluctuated from a maximum of 9.159.000 q. (1929-1930) to a minimum of 4,178,000 q. (1932-33). For the production of beet sugar, Poland ranks 5th among the European states, after Germany,
The large production of potatoes feeds the alcohol industry, which (1933) counts 23 large distilleries, as well as 1349 small agricultural distilleries. The production of alcohol at 100 °, which before the war was about 2.5 million hectoliters, in 1932-33 was reduced to just over a tenth of this figure (269,000 hectoliters; 878,000 in 1929-30). Distinctive production of brandy, exported to Russia, Scandinavia and the Balkan countries.
One of the most flourishing Polish industries is that of wood, which has an abundant raw material. There are 1377 sawmills with 22,500 employees and 233 furniture factories with 6200 employees. The largest sawmills are located in Bydgoszcz and in the centers close to the large forest areas of NE Poland. and the Carpazî; furniture factories in Warsaw and Lviv. The production of the sawmills gives a strong export quota.
Other industries to remember are those of cement (13 factories, almost all in south-western Poland, where marly limestones abound: in Goleszów, Trzebinia, Ząbkowice, Zawiercie, Częstochowa, etc.; cement production: 1929, 1 million tons.; 1933, 411,000 tons), lime (73 plants: 896,000 tons of lime produced in 1929, 409,000 in 1932), glass (49 plants with 10,700 employees: the most important are located in Sosnowiec), leather and footwear (277 tanneries with 5,800 employees, 53 shoe factories with over 2,000 employees, etc.; main centers: Warsaw, Vilna, Poznań, Lviv, Krakow, Tarnów, Łowicz).
According to calculations by the Ministry of Communications, Poland would have 3,700,000 HP of water energy, only a small part of which has been exploited so far; electricity is produced almost exclusively by thermal power plants. In 1933 there were 70 power plants with more than 5000 kW of installed power, of which 27 in Silesia.
As shown by the production figures of recent years, compared with those of the last year which can be considered normal, 1929, the economic crisis has had very serious consequences for Polish industry, for which it is not easy to do predictions. Once this crisis has been overcome, a greater development of it will probably occur with the improvement of the standard of living and with the increase in the needs of the population, which, in the absolute majority of peasants, has so far very limited them; with the progress of agriculture and with the development of communication routes; with the opening of new foreign markets, and particularly with the reestablishment of economic relations with the USSR.
