April brings record figures for<br>the German PCB market

Compared to March this year, the industry saw an increase of 15.6%; compared to April 2007 figures increased by 13.5%. Even the cumulative total volume increased by 5.5% (compared to 2007 figures). The unusual number of 22 working days in April (and 84 working days since the beginning of the year) contributed to these increases. In addition, supply bottlenecks and quality problems in Asia continue to play a major role in the development. The order intake for April is the second highest (for an April) since 2000 - the same applies to the current year. Compared to the same month in 2007, the industry saw a 12% increase in order inflow, especially in the segments automotive and industrial electronics. Contracts that depended on supply security as well as smaller batch series for the industrial sector were booked in Europe – as opposed to be shifted to manufacturers in Asia. The book-to-bill ratio reached a value of 1.04; slightly lower than in previous months. However, this is – for April – a reasonable and good figure. The number of employees within the industry remains stable, with only minor changes.