MATEXPO 2024 - International Trade Fair for Machines, Techniques, and Materials

MATEXPO is a monument among trade fairs. For 40 editions . Few trade fairs have as rich a history as MATEXPO. This also means that the stock market has seen many difficult times. Every economic crisis since the stock exchange was founded in the late 1940s has had an impact in one way or another. Yet there are a number of constants: relentless growth in supply and demand, diversification and innovation have ensured that MATEXPO has been able to expand edition after edition. More machines, more exhibitors, more visitors. In 1946, some bright contractors from Harelbeke understood that, in the context of the reconstruction after the war, there was music in the organization of a construction fair. It became an unexpected success, even though it remained a very regional event . When construction of the Halls in Kortrijk started in 1967 , the Harelbeek organizers saw their opportunity again. After all, their fair was bursting at the seams and that modern exhibition space offered an ideal platform for a fair where more and more construction machines were on display. The first Kortrijk edition was organized in 1969 under the name “Hout- en Bouwbeurs” . The expansion opportunities offered by the new location were optimally utilized and the fair quickly acquired a national character, to the extent that the Brussels equipment fair Intermat closed its doors for good not much later. The next milestone came in 1986 when it was decided to leave the previously locally oriented Bouwbeurs section for what it was and to fully focus on construction equipment in the broadest sense. From then on, only the name " MATEXPO" was used. What started as a small regional fair under the church tower of Harelbeke, grew into a fair that is still regional, but no longer at Belgian, but at European level.

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