Major exhibitors and show organiser Messe München have hailed a successful Bauma 2025 with attendance of “around 600,000� visitors from more than 200 countries and significant growth from outside Germany.

The event was held during a week dominated by talk of trade tariffs, but exhibitors and industry leaders reported a positive atmosphere and said the show could provide a real stimulus to the equipment industry.

Holger Schulz, managing director at Zeppelin, the Munich-based Caterpillar dealer, described Bauma as a “pure adrenaline rush� that attracted “the who’s who of the German, European and international construction and extraction industries...Once again, it demonstrated its status as a leading trade fair and proved to be the beating heart of the industry.

“For us, Bauma is the best sales platform in the world. Sustainability—the sustainable operation of construction machinery and construction sites with the latest drive systems and energy storage solutions—remains an important topic. In addition, there is also the entire area of networked construction sites and networked construction machinery.�

Erich Sennebogen, owner of Sennebogen, said Bauma had shown a “strong heart� and an unexpected positive atmosphere; “For this reason, Bauma can be a positive stimulus for a revival in the construction industry, as well as in the material handling sectors, both in Germany and internationally.�

Steffen Günther, a member of the board of directors of Liebherr-International AG, said the seven day event was much more than just a trade fair; “it is the platform where the future of the industry is made tangible. My personal highlight was our Bauma motto ‘Hands on the future�. For us, this is not just a phrase, but an attitude; one that was also well received by our customers.�

Joachim Schmid, managing director of the VDMA (the German Construction Machinery and Building Material Plants Association), said the show had been a “great success and in some cases exceeded the business expectations of our member companies.

“The upcoming formation of a new government [in Germany] with the recently published coalition agreement and the expected investment packages are providing positive momentum, as is the trend to focus more strongly on the European market.�

A happy show organiser

Stefan Rummel, CEO of Messe München, said he was delighted: “We hosted around 600,000 visitors from more than 200 countries and regions. Bauma is the heartbeat of the industry and has once again shown how crucial exchange and personal encounters are for progress and global trade. The Munich exhibition center sends out a strong signal of confidence for the entire industry.�

The organiser said there were significant increases in visitor numbers, particularly from Brazil, Portugal, Romania, the Netherlands, Turkey and Spain. The numbers from China also increased again compared to the previous best attended event in 2019. The 2022 exhibition was impacted by the global pandemic and held in October.

The pandemic-impacted event in 2022 attracted 495,000 visitors while the record attendance was in 2019, when visitor numbers reached 620,000.

Other big-name exhibitors expressed satisfaction with the event. Robert Hauser, CEO of Doka, said it was a complete success for the company; “The interest in our innovations and further developments was overwhelming. For us, Bauma is the most important platform for advancing future topics. It brings the world of the construction industry together—from North America to Asia.

“Nowhere else do we have so many high-quality discussions with the most important customers worldwide in such a short time—we only get this at Bauma! In short: it was the most successful Bauma for us to date.�

Meanwhile, Toshiaki Ujiie, president and CEO of Tadano Group, said; “Bauma offers the perfect stage to present our latest technologies and solutions to a global audience. It is an invaluable event that enables us to exchange ideas directly with our customers and industry experts.�

With 3,601 exhibitors from 57 nations, the event once again highlighted trends in sustainability and digitalisation, with numerous battery powered and hydrogen machines - many in prototype form.

However, it was also clear that progress in electrification is not happening at quite the rate that had once been anticipated. The president of Volvo Construction Equipment, Merker Jelberg, told the world’s construction press at Bauma that the pace of electrification was “slower than wanted and needed� and other OEMs were being realistic in their expectations of sales of battery powered machines, especially at a time of slow economic growth and macroeconomic uncertainty.

The next Bauma will be held from 3 to 9 April in 2028.