THE TRADE COMPETITIVENESS OF FURNITURE PRODUCTS

The production of wood-based furniture is the final stage in the wood processing chain. Foreign trade in furniture indicates the success of the sector and its competitiveness on international markets. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the trade competitiveness, and its trend, in the furniture manufacturing industry in both the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic for a period of ten years, through the implementation of indicators based on industry foreign trade data and using mathematical and statistical methods. A system of indicators was set up and the hypothesis: "In the furniture industry the competitive potential is used insufficiently" was proposed. The results achieved confirmed the hypothesis, however, despite the furniture industry showing an active foreign trade balance, it contributed little to the country's trade balance surplus and low values of the indicators of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) were achieved. Therefore, the industry gradually loses its competitive ability.