The Agro-Industrial Complex of the CIS

The conditions of activity of the agro-industrial complex depend largely on the general state of the economy of the Commonwealth of Independent States [CIS]. The situation here has deteriorated dramatically because of the disintegration of the USSR and the severance of the economic ties that had existed. A major slump in production is seen in all Commonwealth countries. The gross domestic product declined throughout the CIS as a whole by 27 percent in 1992 (to the 1980 level) compared with 1989 when it was at its highest. In industry, this decline was 25 percent (to the 1980 level); in agriculture, 18 percent (to the 1974 level); in capital construction, 49 percent (to the 1974 level); in foreign trade, 57 percent (to the 1977-78 level).