With its long-standing history, WoodTech Fair continues to be one of the most important meeting points for the woodworking machinery industry. We met with RX Tüyap General Manager Berkan Öner to discuss the latest developments and innovations at the fair and evaluated WoodTech’s position in the industry, its international visitor targets and the initiatives that will stand out this year.

WoodTech Fair, one of the most established meeting points of the woodworking machinery industry, has played an important role throughout its 39-year history in helping Turkish machinery manufacturers expand into international markets, establish new business connections and increase the industry’s global visibility. WoodTech 2026, which will be held at the Istanbul Tüyap Fair and Congress Center on 22-25 October 2026, is preparing to create a basis for new commercial opportunities with its strong international visitor network, hosted buyer programs and structure covering the industry’s entire value chain. To evaluate the contributions the fair has made to the industry to date and the targets for the 2026 event, we met with RX Tüyap General Manager Berkan Öner and discussed many topics, from WoodTech’s international position and visitor profile to new business connections and the opportunities the fair offers the industry.

  • WoodTech Fair, with its 39-year history, is one of the industry’s most established meeting points. How do you evaluate the fair’s contribution to the development of the Turkish woodworking machinery industry during this period?

With a well-established history approaching forty years, WoodTech is not merely a fair that has witnessed the industry’s development; it is one of the strategic platforms that has shaped the direction of that development. WoodTech has made an important contribution to the production capacity, export strength and international visibility that the Turkish woodworking machinery industry has reached today. Over the past 39 years, WoodTech has provided a platform for our manufacturers to meet global buyers, present their innovative technologies to world markets and sustainably increase their competitiveness. At the same time, by bringing areas of transformation such as automation, digital production, AI-supported systems and sustainable production solutions onto the industry agenda, it has supported not only today’s trade but also tomorrow’s approach to production. Today, with its engineering competence, production flexibility and export potential, Türkiye is one of Eurasia’s most important production and trade centers for woodworking machinery. As WoodTech, our fundamental vision is to take this strong position of our industry further, increase the share of Turkish manufacturers in the global value chain and make Türkiye one of the leading centers where high value-added technologies are developed.

  • How does WoodTech support Turkish machinery manufacturers in establishing new business connections and increasing their visibility in international markets?

WoodTech’s greatest strength is bringing Turkish manufacturers together not merely with a broad visitor audience, but with decision-making professionals from the right markets. Last year, we brought together more than 21 thousand professional visitors from 96 countries with over 300 exhibiting companies. This picture clearly demonstrates not only WoodTech’s international reach, but also the trust and commercial impact it creates for the industry. The one-to-one meetings, distributorship agreements and new export connections established during the fair go beyond the limits of a four-day event and turn into collaborations that continue throughout the year. Our measure of success is not merely the number of visitors; what matters is that the contacts established at the fair turn into sustainable trade, investment and long-term partnerships. Professional buyers from the Balkans, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and emerging markets have the opportunity to directly experience the technology level, production quality and engineering capabilities of Turkish manufacturers. At the same time, WoodTech brings together strong domestic manufacturers as well as global brands, international manufacturers and strong distributors with effective distribution networks in different markets under the same roof. This international structure offers Turkish manufacturers not only the opportunity to reach potential buyers, but also to establish direct contact with global industry players, develop new collaboration models and assess their position in the international competitive environment more closely.

This interaction among global brands, strong distributors and the leading manufacturers of the Turkish machinery industry strengthens WoodTech’s international character while creating an important business development platform for companies seeking to expand into new markets. These encounters accelerate our companies’ entry into new markets while also strengthening their position in existing markets. In this sense, WoodTech serves as a strategic bridge connecting Türkiye’s production strength with the global industry network and new commercial opportunities. Therefore, we position WoodTech not merely as a fair where products are exhibited, but as an international business development ecosystem that brings domestic and international industry players, global brands, distributors and professional buyers together within the same trade network; grows exports, encourages investment, accelerates technology transfer and strengthens the global vision of the Turkish machinery industry.

“We aim to take our international visitor reach further in terms of both quantity and quality”
  • What are your expectations regarding the visitor profile of the fair this year? From which countries and regions do you expect participation?

In 2026, we aim to take our international visitor reach further in terms of both quantity and quality. We plan to welcome to Istanbul professionals who play an active role in investment and purchasing decisions from a broad geography, particularly Europe, the Balkans, the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and the Turkic Republics. Furniture manufacturers, panel and woodworking facilities, investors, factory managers, purchasing professionals, architects and industrialists investing in production technologies constitute our core visitor profile. In addition, we expect interest from businesses planning capacity expansion, digital transformation and sustainable production investments to grow even stronger this year. Because the industry is no longer seeking only new machinery; it is pursuing integrated solutions that will provide efficiency, flexibility and competitive advantage.

We want to take even further this year the international success we achieved in 2025 by welcoming visitors from 96 countries. In this direction, we will carry out a special hosted buyer program focusing on the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Morocco, Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria. Our goal is to bring our exhibitors together not merely with more visitors, but with the right buyers who have concrete purchasing and collaboration potential. The Guided Tour Program, which we will implement for the first time this year, is also an important part of this vision. By directing invited buyer delegations according to the product groups they need, we will enable them to hold more targeted, efficient and results-oriented meetings with our companies. In this way, while personalizing the visitor experience, we will also increase the quality of commercial matches and their conversion potential.

  • WoodTech Fair is organized with RX Tüyap’s international experience and AIMSAD’s sectoral strength. In what ways has this strong collaboration made the fair a more effective event?

Behind WoodTech’s sustainable success lies the strong collaboration that brings RX Tüyap’s international exhibition experience together with AIMSAD’s deep sectoral knowledge under a shared vision. This structure continuously improves both the event’s global reach and its ability to respond to the real needs of the industry. As RX Tüyap, with our global visitor network, international marketing strength, data-driven targeting capability and organizational experience, we bring the right buyers from different countries around the world to the fair. AIMSAD, as one of the organizations that best understands the industry’s production dynamics, technology agenda and companies’ expectations, makes a strong contribution to the content and exhibitor structure. EUMABOIS support further deepens WoodTech’s ties with sectoral networks in Europe.

Thanks to this complementary strength, WoodTech has gone beyond Türkiye’s borders to become one of Eurasia’s most influential specialized fairs. We create greater trade potential for our exhibitors, a more comprehensive technology experience for our visitors, and stronger international collaborations and new areas of growth for our industry. In the coming period, our goal is to make WoodTech not merely an event that expands existing trade, but a global reference platform that sets the industry’s transformation agenda, accelerates the spread of new technologies, opens export routes and carries Türkiye’s production strength to the world. Drawing strength from our past, we will continue to shape the future of the industry together.