The global wood and timber market was developing very rapidly in the last pre-crisis decade, which contributed to the demand and the global trade growth in this sector, but today this market are also able to slowly develop. With forests covering more than 50% of its territory (1.6 times the world average), Latvia is one of the most forested EU member states. Over the last 70 years, the forested area has nearly doubled while standing volume has increased 3.6 times, reaching 631 million cubic metres. About 50% of forests are owned by the state. The forest sector’s share of Latvia’s gross domestic product is about 5%; in 2010, the value of products turned out by the sector reached LVL 1.5 billion (EUR 2.1 billion). Primary wood processing is generally based on modern technologies meeting the requirements of the global market both in terms of productivity and product quality. As a result, primary wood processing has built a stable foundation both for exports and the development of further processing and the production of higher value added products. In the study, the influencing factor selection with sociological research method (analysis), factor analysis and expert`s method was used. From the study results it can be concluded that the key affecting factors whether to influence Latvia`s wood processing development are the following: a roundwood and other materials available for the production, a cost and pricing imbalance of products, a trends in the sales markets and competitor countries and a new development direction of wood products and other. It should be noted that each of the significance of this factor may vary considerably shorter period of time, i.e. year. The main conclusion is that the Latvian wood processing industry to significantly affect the ability to sell the primary products to local needs, as well as their ability to sell their products with general trends in the global wood products markets are mutually uncorrelated, because they are to small players in this market.
Keywords: primary wood processing sector, influencing factors, Latvia
Authors
Tunkele S.
Programm „Forest economics and policy”, Latvia university of Agriculture, Jelgava, Latvia
Mārciņš J.
Departament of Woodworking, Latvia university of Agriculture, Jelgava, Latvija
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