Germany has over eleven million hectares of forest, an area of huge significance and especially worth protecting, not least because of climate protection. INTERFORST, held at the exhibition grounds in Munich from July 17 to 20, showed how and which machines and technologies can offer support. A total of 353 exhibitors from 21 countries and around 31,000 visitors from nearly 60 countries took part in this leading international trade fair for forestry and forest technology.
For Dr. Reinhard Pfeiffer, Managing Director of Messe München, “INTERFORST this year is an incredible story. The response from the industry is truly impressive and shows how important INTERFORST is in times like these. We struck a sociopolitical nerve with the topics of forest conversion, forest regeneration and climate protection. Forestry and forest technology are hugely important in combating the climate crisis.”
For the industry representatives, the importance of INTERFORST and meeting in person is undisputed. Ralf Dreeke, Managing Director of Wahlers Forsttechnik and Chairman of the INTERFORST Advisory Board, is therefore very positive: “We can feel it immediately on every day of the trade fair: The industry wants to meet again ‘live’ and is using INTERFORST to do just that. The visitor structure also fits our products—it’s the forestry experts who come here.” Gert Unterreiner, Managing Director at Unterreiner Forstgeräte, also stresses the importance of the trade fair: “INTERFORST in Munich is an extremely important trade fair for the entire industry,” and Markus Prenninger, Managing Director at PALFINGER EPSILON, adds: “As a leading international trade fair, INTERFORST offers us the best platform to engage in dialog with our customers. Fantastic weather and radiant faces—everyone was pleased to be able to talk face-to-face, especially after the long break.” Michael Liehr, Head of Marketing at STIHL Vertriebszentrale, agrees: “We were already blown away by the first two days of the fair. The numerous visitors at our stand were visibly just as pleased as our staff that we could finally meet again ‘live and in color’. And, of course, that we could present our latest innovations to the specialist audience. After all, digitalization in forests is a key future topic. INTERFORST once again really did justice to its reputation as a marketplace.”
It’s also, and in particular, politicians who are aware of how important the forest is as a resource. Cem Özdemir, German Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, stressed at the opening of INTERFORST: “The goal is to create adapted, resilient and multifunctional forests. Sustainable forest policy needs the involvement of forest owners, practitioners, science and politics. INTERFORST offers a great opportunity for that. The trade fair Messe addresses the challenge for our forests.” And Michaela Kaniber, Bavarian Minister for Food, Agriculture and Forestry, adds: “We are, of course, extremely proud that it’s all taking place in Munich—and you can see that the industry is very diverse, very digitized, incredibly modern, and visionary in its work.”
Petra Westphal, Exhibition Director of INTERFORST, is pleased with the result: “Everything was different this year. The duration of the trade fair, the event days, the layout—simply everything, it felt like. But the industry has supported all these changes and even more: It has confirmed INTERFORST in its position as the leading trade fair for forestry and forest technology and made it into a great event for us all.”
The next INTERFORST will take place in July 2026 at the exhibition grounds in Munich.
