PCB sales increase in January 2013

Sales for printed circuit board manufacturer are traditionally high in January. Customers tend to no accept orders before year's end and make up leeway at the beginning of the next. Volume increased by almost 50% compared to December 2012; a development that was also noticed in the prior year (2011/2012). In previous years, sales increases usually stood at 25-30% in January (when compared to the proceeding December). Order intake increased by 13 percent in January 2013 compared with December 2012. However, figures remained 3.5% percent lower that those reported for January 2012. The trend towards ever shorter disposition times continues. Because of the unusually high turnover, the book-to-bill ratio is well over 1. The number of employees fell by about four percent. Especially medium-size companies adapted their workforce.