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is an item in short supply on the world4 inar-
ket, but the import section of OMGUS has
located supplies in Portugal which have been
purchased for the china program.
One of the problems arising in Bavarian
porcelain manufacturies practice is the high
temperatures (above 2500 degrees Fahrenheit)
to which the ware is fired. The coal con-
sumption involved in firing Bavarian porce-
lain amounts to eight tons of coal for each
ton of finished ware. A quarter of the fuel
must be of a special grade of long flame,
hard coal. This coal formerly came from
the Ruhr, but because of the limited supply
of coal now available to German industry,
it is now necessary to purchase similar grades
of such coal from Czechoslovakia. The
remaining three-quarters of the required fuel
consist of brown coal, large supplies of which
have been purchased from Czechoslovakia.
Purchase of these raw materials has been
made by OMGUS Export Section which buys
on the world market according to availability
and price. The import purchasing staff has
at its disposal the largest group of overseas
agents in the world, for it makes use of the
commercial attaches in all US legations.
Under quadripartite agreement, unlimited
production in the ceramic and glass indus-
tries is permitted. The Joint Export-Import
Agency (US/UK) in Minden has been set up
to conduct negotiations with foreign buyers
and finalize contract commitments.
Most of the china export sales from the
Bavarian industry so far have gone to meet
the demands of Sweden and Switzerland
which have paid for purchase in dollars, and
it is anticipated that the industry will have
difficulty in supplying countries which have
been faced with a "chinaware famine" for more
than six years because of the curtailment of
chinaware production in Europe due to!the war.
Examples of the products of one of the 25 US Zone ceramics plants which provide
the bulk of the ceramic-producing potential in the bizonal economic program.
                         Photo by Byes