But even greater is the effort made for the industrial development of the country. First of all, the availability of electricity has been considerably developed, quadrupling it compared to 1940. In 1959 the production was 16,380 million kWh, of which 13,380 of water origin, mostly coming from those same plants also used for irrigation purposes.: the most important, among the newly built ones, are located on the high Tagus (supplying energy to the Madrid region) and on the Duero (in the province of Zamora), but numerous other installations have been built in the Pyrenean basins and in Asturias, in addition to the pre-existing ones, as well as on the Miño, the Júcar and the Guadalquivir. Coal production rose to 17,000,000 tonnes in 1958, practically covering almost all of the national needs. all the more so since the consumption of mineral oils and fuels has increased sharply; so far the Spanish territory has not offered any availability, despite the numerous surveys and prospecting carried out; however, thanks to the refineries of Escombreras (near Cartagena, capable of processing 3,500,000 tons per year) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, oil imports (which in 1958 amounted to almost 6,000,000 tons, compared to less of 1,000,000 tonnes in 1940, covering more than 21% of Spanish energy consumption) are now almost exclusively limited to crude oil; an oil pipeline from Roda (near Cadiz) to Madrid is also under construction to ensure supplies to the industries of the capital and the surrounding region. On the other hand, the use of any uranium deposits is still being studied,
Among the other mineral resources on the increase is the production of iron (in 1959 minerals with an iron content of almost 2,418,000 t were extracted) and that of pyrites and iron almost doubled (in 1958 almost 1,800,000 t) is cupriferous, just as the quantity of sulfur extracted from it has considerably increased. Finally, Spain continues to be among the countries in the world that have the highest production of lead, zinc and mercury; the availability of these metals, now joining the possibility of having hydroelectric resources, has favored the development of the ferroalloy industry, flourishing especially in the Basque provinces.
According to ebizdir, the production of manufacturing industries has also increased considerably; thanks to the new plants in Asturias and the province of Vizcaya (Avilés), the steel industry in 1959 produced over 1,695,000 tons of cast iron and 1,809,600 tons of steel (but for another 3,000,000 tons of steel import). The production of the chemical industry, in addition to the fertilizers already mentioned, has increased to more than 1,000,000 tons of sulfuric acid. The cement and brick industry is particularly flourishing; Almost 5,000,000 tonnes of cement were produced in 1958 for water barriers alone.
In the shipyards of Cadiz, Cartagena and El Ferrol, over 300 ships and smaller boats were under construction in 1958 (almost 50% more than in 1957); in the same year 145,200 tons of ships were launched (over 55% more than in 1957).
Among the mechanical industries, the progress of the automotive industry is particularly sensitive: the Spanish FIAT (SEAT) has been nationalized and now the vehicles are manufactured entirely in S .; Renault has had a factory in Valladolid since 1960, one of Citroën has been installed in Vigo and one of DKW in Victoria, while Pegaso continues its activity in Madrid; in 1958, 40,000 touring cars were built, as well as 20,000 diesel engines, 3,500 trucks and 5,000 vans. To these must be added 190,000 motorcycles and “scooters” from the various Vespa (Madrid), Lambretta (Eibar), Peugeot (Luchana) and NSU (Baracaldo) factories. Also in 1958, 250,000 sewing machines were produced.
Only the textile industries have not increased their activity; on the contrary, production, except for those that process artificial fibers, has been increasingly reduced (45,000 t of cotton yarn and 40,000 t of wool yarn in 1956), due in part to lower consumption and in part to outdated equipment, although with an always high number of spindles and frames.
Overall, industrial income is continuously increasing (from 1954 onwards by almost 10% per year); in 1958 it was 150,000 million pesetas, of which 35,000 came from metallurgy and iron and steel, 30,000 from construction, 15,000 from chemical industries, 15,000 from food and the same number from textiles.
