Assessment of production potential of the forestry complex of the regions of the European North of Russia

Forest resources and their processing are one of the main components of the economic base of the regions of the European North of Russia. At the same time, the mere fact of the presence of rich wood reserves does not at all indicate their effective use. In this regard, the assessment of the existing production potential of the timber industry complex of these constituent entities of the Russian Federation is of particular relevance and importance. The article discusses the approaches of modern researchers to the assessment of both the forest raw materials and the economic and production potential. The author’s technique is proposed, based on the use of reference values and calculations of the integral indicator of the production potential of the timber industry complex. As a result of the study, the author came to the conclusion that the production potential of the timber industry of the regions of the European North of Russia is not fully used - only 62%. In terms of regions, the leader is the Komi Republic, and the outsider is the Murmansk region. The largest reserves are available in the use of forest and market potential. The low level of use of the first is explained by low rates of development of the estimated cutting area, as well as insufficient volumes of reforestation. Low indicators of assessing market potential are due to the fact that low value-added products still dominate in the structure of production of the timber industry complex.