The German electrical and electronics industry trade association PCB and Electronic Systems reported that in February 2011 the total sales of the German printed circuit board manufacturers were up 1.1 percent compared with the previous month. Total sales were up 20.1 percent compared with February 2010 but were 4.2 percent less than the peak result for February which was achieved in 2008.
The data available from March onwards indicate continued increases in sales. Although the number of new orders fell by 6.5 percent compared with January 2011 and 13 percent compared with January 2010 the number of orders received in February returned overall to a normal level for this month. Compared to the average of the first two months orders received fell by eight percent.
However, the drop is to be seen in relation to the huge number of orders received during the course of the previous year and the consequent large order backlog which still exists. In February the book-to-bill ratio, a medium-term trend indicator, reached a value of 0.92.
The number of employees increased by 1.1 percent compared with the previous month and by ten percent compared with February of the previous year. The number of employees was thereby only 3.2 percent below the figure for February of the pre-crisis year 2008.
