PROCESSING INDUSTRY AS A STRATEGIC DIRECTION OF UKRAINIAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The article examines the processing industry as a strategic direction of the general economic development of the Ukrainian economy. The study analyzed the efficiency of not only the processing industry, but also the industrial sector as a whole. In particular, it was found that the total industrial GDP of Ukraine, determined by the production method, in 2021 amounted to UAH 1,111,762 million, of which 50.42%, or UAH 560,527 million, belonged to enterprises in the processing sector. At the same time, among all sectors of the economy, the specific weight of the processing industry in the GDP for 2021 is 10.28%. This makes processing production one of the key types of economic activity of the national economy of Ukraine, and, accordingly, defines it as strategically important for improving the socio-economic well-being of the population.
 The authors paid special attention to highlighting the importance of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) for the development of the processing industry of Ukraine. MSMEs account for more than 99% of the number of business entities in the studied production area, and therefore, strengthening the competitiveness of enterprises of these types will have a positive impact on the overall growth of the Ukrainian economy.
 The next stage of the research focused on the analysis of the productivity of the processing industry of the European Union. The dominance of the studied industry among other sectors of the EU industry was established. Germany and France can be called leaders in the processing sphere among European countries, while Poland lags significantly behind them in terms of added value.
 Ukraine is an active candidate for joining the European Union.Thus, in addition to the adaptation of Ukrainian legislation to European standards, it is also necessary to increase the level of efficiency of the enterprises of the processing industry. In this case, it is important to strengthen the competitiveness of Ukrainian industrial products on the European market with the aim of constantly increasing the volume of exports of Ukrainian industrial goods to European countries. The authors found out that the balance of foreign trade turnover of Ukraine in 2022 as a result of trade with the EU amounted to 1.8 billion dollars.