The introduction of a rating system for timber market participants in the Zhytomyr region has demonstrated a tangible economic effect - curbing excessive price increases during timber exchange trading. The results obtained confirm that increasing transparency and discipline in contract execution directly affects market stabilization.

Analysis of industrial wood trading shows that in Zhytomyr region the price increase from the starting price was significantly more restrained compared to most other regions.

In particular:

  • in the coniferous segment, the growth was 66%, while in Volyn region - 122%, Sumy - 103%, Rivne - 94%, Cherkasy - 88%, Chernihiv - 85%, Khmelnytskyi - 84% and Vinnytsia - 68%;
  • in the hardwood segment, Zhytomyr region showed growth at 78%, which is also lower than the indicators of Vinnytsia - 111%, Rivne - 108%, Cherkasy - 103%, Ternopil - 102%, Volyn - 100%, Khmelnytskyi - 92% and Chernihiv - 85% regions;
  • in the category of softwoods, the growth was 65%, while in other regions it reached significantly higher values: Volyn region - 125%, Ternopil region - 103%, Rivne region - 99%, Vinnytsia region - 95%, Sumy region - 84%, Kyiv region - 83%, Khmelnytskyi region - 83%, Lviv region - 80% and Ivano-Frankivsk region - 76%.

A similar trend is observed in the round timber segment (pine, spruce, oak). In Zhytomyr region, a consistently lower price increase from the starting price was recorded for key species and quality classes:

  • pine, class A - 13% (compared to 41% in Cherkasy and Ternopil regions, 20% in Sumy regions);
  • pine, class B - 14% (compared to 40-41% in Cherkasy and Ternopil, 37% in Kharkiv);
  • spruce, class C - 3% (compared to 33% in Chernihiv, 27% in Ivano-Frankivsk, 22% in Rivne);
  • spruce, class D - 1% (compared to 35% in Khmelnytskyi and 33% in Chernihiv regions).

The oak segment is particularly illustrative:

  • • class C - 31% in Zhytomyr region versus 114% in Poltava, 55% in Khmelnytskyi, 50% in Vinnytsia and 41% in Cherkasy; 
    • class D - 47% versus 140% in Poltava, 89% in Kharkiv, 72% in Chernihiv and 69% in Odessa regions.

Such a detailed comparison shows that in all key market segments, the application of a risk-based approach to determining the size of guarantee fees in auctions in the Zhytomyr region has significantly reduced the level of price overheating observed in other regions.

The Zhytomyr experiment confirmed: the introduction of market tools for assessing the integrity of participants contributes to the formation of more responsible behavior, reduces speculative pressure on prices, and ensures more predictable and stable market functioning.

The results obtained may become the basis for scaling the rating system to other regions of Ukraine as an effective mechanism for increasing transparency and strengthening contractual discipline on the timber market.