© Schweizer Electronic AG (illustration purpose only)
PCB |
PCB market continues to recover
Due to the corona pandemic, the year 2020 was characterised by plummeting sales figures for the circuit board manufacturers in the DACH region, the industry association ZVEI PCB and Electronic Systems states.
The second quarter of 2020 marked the lowest point for the PCB industry.
PCB manufacturers reported on 4Q sales figures that were 1.7 percent higher compared YoY. Quarterly sales accounted for almost a quarter of the total annual sales. In 2020 as a whole, turnover was down 9 percent compared to 2019.
It is unusual that order intake in the fourth quarter would reach higher than average. 4Q/2020 saw order intake up by 4.7 percent (compared YoY). It also marked the second highest value for 2020, only losing out to the first quarter.
Reasons are likely to be the price increases and shortages that occurred in Asia early in the second half of 2020. As a result, the automotive industry, among other sectors, relocated certain time-critical orders to Europe, which resulted in a sharp increase in order intake. In contrast, the value fell by 3.9 percent during 2020.
The book-to-bill ratio stood at 1.13 for 4Q/2020.
The number of employees was down by 4.2 percent compared to the same period in 2019.
