Factors of Development of the Harvesting Firms in Suceava, Romania

The paper proposes an empirical analysis of the demand and supply as they appear trough the auctions for standing timber organised by the Forest Directorate Suceava, a regional branch of the National Forest Administration located in the Northern part of Romania. The results confirm that there is a trend of territorial concentration of large firms, which are able to influence the decisions of the small-size agents. On the other hand, the capacities for harvesting activities are over-sized compared with the annual resource available at the level of the Forest Directorates. Second, the evolution of demand and supply before, during and after the storm event which occurred in 2002 shows how the entrepreneurs reacted to different supply context. It appears that after the storm period the demand is much more fragmented and small-sized, and the competition is very strong. Compared with the situation before the storm, the number of firms is 25% higher, while the supply is reduced by 50%. We advance some hypotheses to explain whey the number of firms did not decrease with the decreasing of the timber supply and why the sector is facing apparently irrational economic choice, e.g. harvesting economic inefficient tracks. Finally, the paper helps to identify some key fields for the further development of the research.