Structure and dynamics of Ukrainian merchandise exports: a regional dimension

Abstract

Ukraine’s integration into the global market has a clear resource-oriented nature, as agricultural products remain the dominant component of domestic merchandise exports. This urges the need to diversify the structure of exports and increase the share of high-tech and medium-tech industries. Given the structural heterogeneity of the formation of domestic merchandise exports in the regional context, the research in this direction is relevant. The purpose of the article is to identify key changes in the export specialization of the regions of Ukraine and to group the latter according to the level of their export activities. Based on the assessment of the structure of merchandise exports of Ukraine and its regions, the export specialization of the latter by commodity groups is determined. The diagnostic study of export activities at the meso-level results from the calculation of indicators that characterize: export orientation of the economy (calculated as the ratio between the value of merchandise exports of the region and gross regional product), export coverage of imports (calculated as the ratio between the values of merchandise exports and merchandise imports of the region), export manufacturability (calculated as the ratio between the values of high-tech exports of the region and merchandise exports in general), the high-tech export orientation of the industry (calculated as the ratio between the value of high-tech exports of the region and the volume of sold industrial products). The regions are divided into four conditional groups according to the level of their export activities, based on the values of the integrated index calculated by the method of the arithmetic mean of partial indicators. Some key trends and problems in the formation and development of Ukraine’s export potential are outlined. Emphasis is placed on the high share of products made from toll raw materials within the high-tech merchandise exports of the vast majority of regions of the Western region. Measures for the implementation of an efficient state policy of export promotion are proposed and their targets are defined.