German PCB market increases in December

This means that the segments continues its growth, as the December only has 15 of theoretically 19 work days (due to the holiday season), as stated by the Verband der Leiterplattenindustrie and the Fachverband Electronic Components and Systems in the Zvei-Group. The long-term comparison shows that the turnover was 6.2% above average. However, the cumulative turnover for 2007 was 1.4% lower than for 2006. The order inflow in December reached a 7.6% increase compared to the same time last year. This is also the highest recorded order inflow for a December month since 2000. However, the cumulative order inflow showed no change to 2006. The second half of 2007 shows an increased demand of PCBs “made in Europe”, as many Asian producers are not able to handle the newly developed lead-free surfaces. The Book-to-Bill-Ratio – a trend indicator – stays with 0.97 just below one. However, this is considerably higher than in December 2006. The change in the number of employees is insignificant, compared to November 2007 and December 2006.