March 2017 – Canada is one of the world’s most important markets for the international construction machinery, building material plant and mining machine industry. It is the world’s seventh biggest construction machinery market. With a volume of 102 billion and 116 billion euros respectively, between them the construction and mining industries account for more than 15 per cent of Canadian gross domestic product. These impressive figures are reason enough to focus on Canada as a partner country at the next bauma—as agreed by Messe München and the Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau (VDMA—German Engineering Federation).

Klaus Dittrich, Chairman and CEO of Messe München, said of the choice of Canada as a partner country: “In selecting Canada, we were not just selecting a very stable sales market but an attractive and dynamic one as well. I am certain that our exhibitors will find additional business openings here.” Johann Sailer, Chairman of the Construction Equipment and Building Material Machinery Association within the VDMA and Chairman of the bauma exhibitors’ advisory board added: “Canada is one of the most important commodity-producing countries there is. In addition, CETA, the free trade agreement recently signed between the EU and Canada, will lend fresh impetus to bilateral trade. This is why we want to use bauma 2019 and the opportunities afforded by the partner country concept to bind our industries even closer together.”

Canada ranks in the world’s top 5 producing countries for almost all mineral resources and boasts the world’s third-largest oil reserves. Notwithstanding the current weakness in the mining and oil and gas sector, the medium-term prospects are positive. According to estimates, the construction industry will grow by more than three per cent annually to 2020. Major projects such as the Northern Ontario Ring of Fire and numerous building construction and civil engineering projects in the major cities worth billions, such as Vancouver airport, the Montreal hospital complex, Toronto railway station or the Calgary cancer centre support this positive assumption.