The woodworking machinery industry, which participated in the Hannover LIGNA Fair, which is considered to be the most prestigious fair in the world in May, with 53 companies, is experiencing the difficulty of reducing the fair incentive fee, which is calculated over the unit price of square meters, by approximately 50 percent compared to the incentive rates previously officially announced. Arif Onur Kaçak, Secretary General of the Woodworking Machinery Manufacturers Association (AIMSAD), stated as follows, “Companies working for their country fell victim to this regulation. We hope that the new economy management will address the issue immediately and eliminate the grievances experienced.”

The woodworking machinery industry, which has had a foreign trade surplus since 2017 and aims to close this year with 200 million dollars in exports, is suffering from the fact that foreign fair incentives have fallen by almost half. The manufacturers of the sector, which participated in the Germany LIGNA Hannover International Wood and Woodworking Machinery, Plant and Equipment Fair, which is accepted as the world’s largest organization in its field and determined as the target country by the Ministry of Trade, with 53 companies, participated in the foreign fair calculated over the unit price of square meters. It is experiencing financial difficulties of drastically reducing its incentives.

THE DIFFERENCE IS 13 MILLION TL

Arif Onur Kaçak, Secretary General of AIMSAD, conveyed the details on the subject and said: “LIGNA Fair, the largest organization of the woodworking machinery industry in the world, is a large organization announced as a prestigious fair by our Ministry of Commerce. At the fair held in May 2023, 53 companies represented our country in the best way in a total area of 6 thousand 500 square meters and successfully completed the fair. Our companies, which participated in the fair within the framework of the incentive figures announced in February, encountered the fact that 11 thousand 747 TL, which was the square meter unit price previously announced within the scope of the target country, was reduced by almost half during the incentive applications at the end of the fair. Accordingly, if the 11 thousand 747 TL in the list in February is taken into account in the upper limits, the participants will receive an incentive of approximately 45 million TL in total, while this figure has decreased to 32 million TL.’’

“WE HOPE THAT THE DOWNWARDLY REVISED INCENTIVE RATES WILL BE REARRANGED”

Emphasizing that the industry is focused on export and production, Kaçak said, “Each of our producers is struggling to contribute to the total export of our country. Instead of being rewarded with the latest development, the industry was almost punished. At a time when exports have become the most critical factor for our economy, while expecting much more for a sector with a nearly 200 percent export-to-import coverage ratio, many companies working for their country without any justification have fallen into victimhood. While we, as AIMSAD, have full confidence in our new economy management, we hope that the incentives given to the fairs, which are the most important pillar of our export targets, will be increased and that the downwardly revised incentive rates will be rearranged, especially for the LIGNA Fair.