The German electrical and electronics industry trade association PCB and Electronic Systems reported that sales for German printed circuit board manufacturers were up five percent in February 2010 compared with the previous month. Compared to February 2009 sales increased by 30 percent. Cumulative sales for the first two months were up 23 percent compared with the previous year. With that the upward trend as a whole has stabilised although the reference values for 2009 were particularly low. The number of orders reached a new high in February.

New orders were up three percent compared to January and 131 percent compared with February 2009. This strong demand was due to low stocks, rapid PCB consumption and new product projects. However, companies are complaining that many customers are still reluctant to provide longer-term delivery forecasts.

With a value of 1.26 the book-to-bill ratio achieved the best February value of the last ten years. The number of employees increased again, this time by 1.2 percent. It was reported that at several companies the number of new appointments was in double figures. The demand means that more new appointments can be expected in the coming months.