Around 78,000 visitors attended this year’s LIGNA global woodworking technology exhibition in Hanover, Germany, according to show organiser Deutsche Messe.
The leading platform for the international woodworking community featured 1,433 exhibitors from 49 countries on May 26 to 30.
WBPI attended the show and spoke to a range of companies serving the wood-based panels sector. The general consensus from a majority of contacts was that attending LIGNA was imperative, regardless of the recent poor economic climate.
Footfall in Hall 26 – the focus for primary wood-based panels production – appeared to be slightly down on the 2023 event, with Monday-Wednesday being the busiest days. However, most contacts reported valuable conversations with visitors.
Another feature of LIGNA in recent years has been less display of machinery and more use of multimedia to demonstrate the capability of technology.
North America was one of the strongest visitor nations represented. Mills from South America, Australia and Asia were also visiting stands in Hall 26.
Apart from current economic conditions, the two other biggest talking points on stands was MDF recycling and Artificial Intelligence.
All WBPI LIGNA show copies, displayed at the main entrance of Hanover Messe, were distributed by Thursday.
“LIGNA has impressively reaffirmed its unique position as the world’s leading trade fair for the industry,” said Dr Jochen Köckler, CEO at Deutsche Messe AG.
He said overall attendance was on a par with the previous edition (2023: more than 80,000 visitors). Over 90,000 attended LIGNA 2019 prior to Covid.
“Given the circumstances, that is a strong result,” said Dr Köckler.
The proportion of trade visitors at LIGNA 2025 was 93% percent, with 60% of them holding management positions – 44% of those in top management.
Across the show, the largest groups of international visitors came from Poland, Italy, and Austria, followed by the Netherlands, France, and Belgium.
The next LIGNA will take place from May 10 to 14, 2027, at the exhibition grounds in Hanover. This is earlier than normal and designed to avoid the public holiday Ascension Day. The dates will also run at the same time as Interzum in Cologne to give visitors a more time effective way of visiting both shows – research quoted by Deutsche Messe suggest average trade show attendance is 2.5 days.
