PCB market stagnated in June 2013

Compared to June 2012 (with one working day less), turnover decreased by two percent. The cumulative sales for the first half of 2013 - with 122 working days - decreased two percent compared to the same period last year (with 124 working days). The order intake in June 2013 remained 7 percent lower than that of May 2013; however increased 33% from June 2012. Therefore, order intake for the first half of 2013 stood 7% higher than during the corresponding period last year. The companies state that customer orders are increasingly short-term. In addition, the ordering behaviour was very erratic. Given the fact that no long-term forecasts are being made, planning production capacity gets more difficult. The book-to-bill ratio in June 2013 fell somewhat compared to the previous month, standing at 1.01. The number of employees was 6 percent lower than that of June 2012.