Visions from FinnMETKO (Part One)

I was going to cover this show in a future edition of Earthmovers, but my understanding is that our colleague Eoghan Daly has it covered, so I have decided to run a few blog posts covering the construction and earthmoving section of FinnMETKO here on the blog.

The three-day FinnMETKO 2026 exhibition attracted 34 786 visitors to its spiritual home in Jämsä. A total of 385 exhibitors presented an impressive range of heavy machinery, equipment, utility vehicles, and the latest cutting-edge technologies for machine contracting industries, with a large focus on forestry equipment.

FinnMETKO is a fantastic show, always well organised and well supported by industry and the general public, especially those with a strong passion for machinery, including owners, operators and general enthusiasts. In addition, like so many of these events I attend in Finland, it also had a great family day out feel to it, as children are always welcome.

Only one criticism, its to spread out across a vast area, but hey, if you enjoy a long walk through the forest, then this is the show for you. That’s generally what I do first thing when I arrive, after a visit to the press office for a cup of two of coffee, to kick start my day.

So, to get to the earthmoving section, you have to follow the path through the said forest which eventually leads you down to an area which can only be described as a huge sand pit, an ideal area for visitors to get “hands on” with the kit!

My first port of call was to the CE Rental Oy stand, where we caught up with our good friends Eetu Tyster and Juhani Kaitila. The company were showcasing an all-electric line up from LiuGong, including the 922FE hydraulic excavator c/w Engcon tiltrotator, and a trio of wheeled loaders, comprising of the 848TE, 856HE and 870HE. Eetu reported that interest in electric powered machines is really gaining momentum right now, especially with the ever-rising cost of diesel.

A short walk away and we landed on the Suomen Telakone stand, who are the Finnish main dealers for Hyundai Construction Equipment, here we found two examples of the new HX range of hydraulic excavators, the HX230L which has been sold to Tipaskone Oy and the HX300L which was fitted with a Rototilt tiltrotator.

Also on the stand was a stunning example of a HX180AL owned by contractor Metsa Hallio with a unique wrap art work, which was also featured on their Volvo Trucks tractor unit and low loader.

Just across the way in their usual spot, we popped by to see our friends on the Rentti stand, where the Finnish CASE dealers presented a number of machines. One super impressive piece of kit was the CASE 721G + X-Agri wheeled loader sitting on large Michelin floatation tyres and sporting a huge light material bucket from Finnish manufacturer HW-OY.

On the Avesco-Cat stand they presented for the first time, the brand-new Cat 319 CR compact radius hydraulic excavator, which was making its premiere appearance in Finland.

Slotting in between the 15-tonne class Caterpillar 315 CR and the 25-tonne class 325 CR, the new 19-tonne machine shares many components of the 17- 20-tonne class conventional tailswing machines, and is essentially a 317 married to a much longer and wider undercarriage, enabling it to offer stronger lifting capacity and greater stability on increasingly tight jobsites.

On the Real Machinery stand we once again caught up with our friends from screening & crushing bucket specialists ALLU, who I had spent time with earlier in the week in Lahti. On the stand demo operator Ville Vaino was putting one of their screening buckets through its paces mounted on a Mecalac 8MCR excavator c/w Rototilt tiltrotator.

We will return to Real Machinery as the tour starts again, in Part Two later this week.