Rural economy: the role of forestry and logging, fisheries and fish farming for small and medium entrepreneurship of municipalities

The paper examines the contribution of small and medium-sized businesses (SME) in forestry and logging, fisheries and fish farming industries to the SME economy of rural municipalities. Based on the latest continuous statistical survey of small and medium businesses (2020), municipalities with rural populations were grouped according to the contribution of these industries to SME revenue. The characteristics of the groups by the level of investment activity, labor productivity, and return on assets are given. It is concluded that the industries under consideration in most of the specified municipalities were absent or there were only a few SMEs, the data on which are hidden by Rosstat for confidentiality reasons. In most other municipalities, they play a complementary, rather than the main role in the sectoral structure of SMEs. At the same time, there are areas where the contribution of the analyzed industries exceeds 40% of SME revenue. Fisheries and fish farming are characterized by a high concentration in certain municipalities of the Far Eastern Federal District. In municipalities where the contribution to SME revenue from forestry and logging is most significant, SMEs in this sector have indicators of productivity, investment activity, and return on assets lower than the average for all analyzed SMEs of the same specialization.