Wood industry trade competitiveness of selected countries of southeast Europe

Abstract

The paper examines the trade competitiveness of the wood industry as a whole and some of its parts (Cork and wood, Cork and wood manufactures and Furniture and parts) of five countries of South Eastern Europe (Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania and Bosnia & Herzegovina) by using six indicators (Revealed Comparative Advantage - RCA, Index of Trade Performance - RCA2, Competitiveness Growth Index - RCA1, Michaely Index - MI, Index of Contribution to the Trade Balance - CTB and Grubel-Lloyd Index - GLI) in the period 2000-2015. On the basis of the results obtained, it was concluded that the wood industry of these countries observed as a whole has great export potential and that it significantly participates in their processing industry. The results of the survey show that companies from the wood industry viewed as a whole are competitive on the domestic market. However, this cannot be said of the international competitiveness of the timber industry of these countries. To be specific, the production of cork and wood from Bulgaria and Serbia, cork and wood manufactures excluding furniture from Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia, as well as furniture and parts manufacturers from Bulgaria do not have a competitive advantage in the international market. By combining the values of six competitiveness indicators, it can be concluded that there is a statistically significant difference in the competitiveness of the wood industry of the countries observed. It can also be concluded that the degree of wood processing has a positive impact on their export competitiveness, this impact not being statistically significant, and that the level of finalization of production did not have a positive impact on the competitiveness of the wood industry of the selected countries of Southeastern Europe.