As the PCB and Electronic Systems Association of the German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (ZVEI) currently reports, PCB manufacturers recorded a 15% drop in revenue in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the same period of the previous year, but incoming orders were exceptional in a positive sense:
After a sharp decline of 37% in the second quarter, which was partly caused by order cancellations, there was now an upward leap of 47%. July was the weakest month of the quarter in terms of sales. Compared to the previous second quarter, total sales for July to September were roughly the same at +0.3 %.
After the lockdown in spring 2020 had a negative impact on many European countries that are important for the PCB industry, the business climate improved in the third quarter, both in terms of supply and among customers, as production facilities started up again. The automotive industry played a key role in this. However, as it is unclear how sustainable the improvement is, the expectations of PCB companies are only cautiously optimistic. In addition, there is a lack of export orders in many cases in the industrial electronics sector. The book-to-bill ratio - the ratio of incoming orders to turnover - rose to 1.14. Such a high value has never been achieved in recent years. The number of employees fell by 1.1% in the third quarter compared to the previous quarter and by 4.7% compared to the same period in the previous year. (dir/vti)
