Assessment of the Competitiveness of the Timber Processing Complex of Ukraine and the EU

Abstract

The competitiveness of the timber processing complex (TPC) of Ukraine is the aggregate competitiveness of such sectors as: manufacture of wood and products of wood; manufacture of paper and paper products; manufacture of furniture. It is proposed to assess the competitiveness of the three types of economic activities (manufacture of wood and products of wood; manufacture of paper and paper products; manufacture of furniture), which are part of the processing industry and determine the level of development and effectiveness of the functioning of the TPC as a whole and the timber processing complex of Ukraine and the EU in particular. In the article, a block scheme to study competitiveness of the timber processing complex of a country is developed. The presented scheme implies assessment of such competitiveness parameters as: level of gross value added of production; material consumption of production; energy intensity of production; and import dependence of the domestic market, which allows determining both the composite quantitative characteristic of the phenomenon under study and its components in order to identify the existing problems. An integral assessment of the competitiveness of the TPC of Ukraine and the EU countries by economic activities is carried out. Based on the results obtained, Ukraine takes the 22nd place among the 25 countries studied. Clustering of the EU countries including Ukraine is carried out according to the value of composite indicators for assessing the competitiveness of certain economic activities of the TPC using the k-means method. Ukraine entered the cluster that is characterized by a low level of competitiveness of certain economic activities of the TPC.

Keywords

• timber processing complex
• competitiveness
• integral indicator
• clustering