FACTORS AND MECHANISMS OF MANAGING THE COMPETITIVENESS OF WOODWORKING ENTERPRISES OF UKRAINE UNDER MARTIAL LAW

Abstract

The article analyzes the current state, structural features, and development trends of Ukraine’s woodworking industry under martial law. The relevance of the study is driven by the strategic role of the industry as an export-oriented economic sector that provides foreign exchange earnings, employment, and Ukraine's integration into European production chains, as well as the need for enterprises to adapt to security, resource, and regulatory challenges. The objective of the study is to substantiate management mechanisms for increasing the competitiveness of Ukrainian woodworking enterprises based on the systematization of influencing factors and the identification of systemic management problems in the sector. The object of the study is the process of managing the competitiveness and development of woodworking enterprises in Ukraine. The subject of the study is the theoretical and methodological foundations and management mechanisms for ensuring the competitiveness of woodworking enterprises under martial law. The article uses methods of statistical, structural, and comparative analysis, systematization and generalization, as well as graphical and tabular methods. It has been established that as of mid-2026, the industry comprises over 25.8 thousand business entities, of which about 79% are individual entrepreneurs, indicating a dominance of micro-businesses that complicates production scaling. The total revenue of enterprises in the industry for 2025 exceeded UAH 109.6 billion, the volume of product exports amounted to over USD 1.6 billion, and tax payments to budgets of all levels reached UAH 48.5 billion, with employment at approximately 141 thousand people. A trend of structural transformation in the industry has been identified, consisting of a shift from exporting raw materials and primary processed products to manufacturing high value-added products: furniture exports increased from USD 48.7 million in 2021 to USD 141.7 million in the first quarter of 2026, while sawn timber exports decreased by 8.9% in value and by 26.3% in physical volume. The competitiveness factors of woodworking enterprises have been systematized across ten groups, and systemic problems of the sector have been identified: raw material imbalance, declining logging volumes, information opacity of the forestry sector, market shadowization, and regulatory challenges related to the implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). The practical significance of the results lies in creating an analytical foundation for developing strategies to enhance the competitiveness of woodworking enterprises and state policy for the development of Ukraine's timber industry complex.