ANALYSIS OF THE PROCESSING INDUSTRY OF UKRAINE AND WAYS TO INCREASE ITS COMPETITIVENESS

Abstract

It is well known that the Ukrainian economy as a whole lags behind the level of development of the economic systems of the EU, the US, and the UK. Among all the reasons, a special place is occupied by the fact that domestic industrial production and exports are oriented toward raw materials. At the same time, the issue of increasing the competitiveness of domestic industrial enterprises, in particular the level of innovation in their activities, also requires more and more attention. The leading place among the branches of the industrial sector of the national economy is occupied by the processing industry, which increases interest in studying its current state and forming an assessment of its future situation. The study conducted by the authors suggests that the processing industry of Ukraine is a rather promising industry. However, it is noted that the instability of the international market in our time and the unsuccessful domestic policy of the industry development in the past years have led to a significant decline in the processing industry. Changes are observed in the number of operating business entities, the structure of manufactured products, and sales volumes both in the domestic and global markets. In addition, a full-scale war on the territory of Ukraine leads not only to huge human losses, but also to material and financial losses for businesses. In particular, in January-March 2023, Ukraine sold industrial products totaling UAH 755.8 billion, which is 14.2% less than in January-March 2022 (UAH 880.42 billion). In the total sales of industrial products for the first three months of 2023, the manufacturing industry accounted for the largest share (53.5%). The authors also compare the manufacturing industry in Ukraine and the leading EU countries. It is worth noting that Ukrainian enterprises, among other things, need to reorient to high-tech production, which will allow them to manufacture and sell end products with higher added value. Given the severity of the current business environment, the authors believe that Ukrainian processing companies should conduct their activities through the prism of such principles as mobility, flexibility of management and innovation in everything.