Monday, 23 April 2007: Turkish businessmen participating in the third Turkish Machine and Machinery Equipment Exhibition (Machitech), held here last week, received tremendous response from Saudi business houses, with most of them signing trade deals. The four-day show, which opened at the Jeddah International Exhibition and Convention Center on April 15, proved that there is a heavy demand for Turkish machinery in Saudi Arabia.
The show was held under the patronage of Prince Mishaal Bin Majed, governor of Jeddah, and was jointly organized by Expotim International and Al-Harithy Company for Exhibitions Limited.
"This time we have 64 Turkish companies participating, covering more than 1520 sq meters of exhibition space," said Cem Nurgun of Expotim - Turkey's international fair-organizing body.
Machitech is the only exhibition focusing on heavy machinery and equipment that is supported by Turkish government.
According to Nurgun, participants have done millions of dollars of business in the form of machinery orders, joint-venture equipment sales and more. However, he did not provide exact figures of the volume of business done during the exhibition.
Mustafa Erol of Tork Makine, a leading Turkish firm that deals in woodworking machinery, was on his third visit to Saudi Arabia - although his company has had trade ties with the Kingdom for 20 years.
"In this visit I see the Saudi market maturing ... it has improved a lot," he said. "Earlier the Saudi customers used to order one machine, but now they want a whole series of machines."
Erol was here with a new range of machines and to provide service to existing long-time customers.
"We have very good relations with our Saudi customers and we enjoy their trust," he said.
Yahya Nafi, foreign trade executive of Nuris Electrical and Welding Machines Manufacturing and Trade Company, said his company was participating for the first time in any Saudi Arabian trade fair and was impressed by the interest shown by Saudi buyers.
"I was thrilled to see customer curiosity in our products and hope to launch the whole line of our machines in the Saudi market very soon," he said.
Nafi's company manufactures 57 types of welding machines and has more than 200 sales and service centers in Turkey. Presently, they are exporting their products to about 15 countries.
Mufit Yuzbasioglu of Pi Makina was looking for mega construction projects in Saudi Arabia. Pi Makina manufactures various machines used in the construction and building industry.
"We see a boom in the Saudi construction sector, so we are here to participate in this growing industry with state-of-the-art machinery and equipment," he said. Yuzbasioglu was very happy with the trade inquiries he received during the exhibition and was expecting some big deals in near future.
Another leading Turkish exhibitor, Sahinler, which specializes in sheet metal machinery, received a huge number of trade inquiries.
Ferhan Sahin, general manager of Sahinler, said they manufacture three lines of machines mainly used in the petrochemical and construction industries.
"We have been doing business with Saudi Arabia since many years but in the last five years we have a strong presence here with the help of our Saudi trading partner Radif Industry and Trading Establishment," he said.
According to a spokesman of the organizers of the show, many of the Turkish exhibitors have expressed their desire to come again to Saudi Arabia as they were flooded with trade enquiries till the last day of the show.
As a result of the outstanding success, Expotim International has confirmed their intention to repeat the event in Jeddah in 2008.
By Irfan Iqbal Khan
© The Saudi Gazette 2007
