The next triennial Interwood Taipei event will be held on July 4, 2008, proving a venue for machines and tools including sawing, molding, boring, drilling, turning, sanding, joining, forming, gluing and coating machines, portable tools, cutters, parts & accessories, raw materials, and other related items.
The exhibition will be divided into four areas: Local Woodworking Machinery; Overseas Woodworking Machinery & Supplies; Woodworking Supplies; and Trade Media & Associations. The last exhibition in 2005 had 3826 domestic and international companies participating. There were 2995 domestic buyers and vendors and 831 international buyers. This showed a 39% growth compared to 2002. The number of buyers from Russia, Mexico and India grew exponentially. With 170 international and domestic vendors participating, 965 booths were used, which made the event the biggest yet. It is now one of the three biggest professional woodworking machinery exhibitions in Asia.
Taiwan sells most of its woodworking machinery overseas. After 40 years of hard work, Taiwan ranks fourth globally just below Germany, Italy, and the U.S. in annual woodworking machinery production, and its machinery exports rank third just below Germany and Italy. Taiwan also sells to the newly developing markets of India, Turkey, Russia, and Eastern Europe.
Even though new competitors are emerging, with its outstanding labor force, international profile and its peripheral parts and accessories industry, Taiwan has a strong competitive advantage in the market. With the main development focused in the central region, all machinery equipment resources are concentrated and companies have established a satellite system of accessory supply with a resulting division of labor. As a result, the quality of the machinery has stayed high. In addition our products, which are cheaper than those from European countries, have earned the favor of woodworking professionals around the world. In the near future the Taiwanese woodworking machinery industry will be presenting a series of automatic equipment to take the lead in the upgrade of the industry.
As of December 2007, over 140 companies have registered for over 930 booths. Companies like Champ Fond, Anderson Group, Tai Chan Machinery Industrial, Jun Shiau Machinery, Leadermac, Technik Associates, and CPT International have registered for over 20 booths each. In addition a Cross-Strait Woodworking Machinery and Supplies Show will be hosted simultaneously by the Mainland Affairs Council so the number of booths should break 1,000, making this exhibition the biggest yet.