European PCB industry continues to battle a stormy market
Stormy market conditions for the European PCB industry continue. The European PCB industry saw a decline in billings of 6.5% (YoY) during the first half of 2024 and down 7.8% when compared to the second half of 2023.
Bookings in the first half of 2024 were even worse with minus 24.4% (YoY) and minus 17.3% compared to the second half of 2023, reports Data4PCB.
The Book to Bill ratio is now standing at 0.91 whereas it had been 0.90 in the second half of 2023 and 0.94 in first half of 2024.
Trends for bookings and billings, unfortunately, continue to decline with no hope of a fast change. In comparison to the EMS industry in Europe, the decline during the first half of 2024 is moderate as the European EMS industry faced a decline in revenues of about 12.4% (YoY) and minus 8.8% to the second half of 2023.
As Data4PCB points out, the numbers show that European PCB manufacturers will lose further market shares in the global PCB market.
"As long as the European Electronics manufacturers do not see that they are destroying their own European sources for system critical applications, the downward spiral will continue," Data4PCB writes in the report.
