Printed Circuit Design & Fab Online Magazine - Market News

Market News

FRANKFURT, GERMANY – Machinery and equipment orders in Germany fell 49% during the month of February, reported VDMA, prompting the machine makers’ association to cut its production forecast for the year.

Machinery production and factory construction are now expected to fall 10% to 20% during the year, compared to the original prediction of 7%. The drop would mark the sharpest decrease since 1993.

Domestic orders for the month fell 45% and international orders were down 50% year-over-year, reported VDMA. The machine tool industry is an important sector for the country; Germany’s economy depends heavily on manufacturing exports.

LAS VEGAS – Printed Circuit Design & Fab magazine announced the winners of its 2009 New Product Introduction (NPI) Awards for printed circuit board design software, process equipment and materials.

The NPI Awards, which premiered this year, recognizes the leading new products for printed circuit design and fabrication during the past 12 months.

WASHINGTON -- A House committee has approved a funding bill for research into ways to cut electronics waste and mitigate its environmental impact.

The Science and Technology committee bill proposes spending $60 million from fiscal 2010 to fiscal 2012 for EPA grants to increase electronics waste collection and recycling rates. The bill would also fund research on separating hazardous materials from e-waste and designing longer-lifespan devices.

While the funds would go to the EPA, it is unclear how the monies would be further dispersed. However, about $15 million would go to the National Science Foundation to fund e-waste curricula at universities.

The bill is backed by companies like Best Buy, which currently takes back certain electronics such as PCs, and various lobbying groups such as the Electronics TakeBack Coalition.

BEIJING – According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), profits of China's major industrial enterprises contracted 37.3% year-over-year during the first two months of 2009.

Profits of companies with an annual income exceeding 5 million yuan ($0.74 million) fell 37.3% to 219.1 billion yuan ($32.33 billion), the NBS said.

The electronic and telecommunications equipment manufacturing sector reported the biggest drop among all 39 sectors, at 96.3%.

BEIJING – A report by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) stated that China's mobile phone output had decreased by 11.2% for January and February 2009, year-over-year.

The MIIT cited that both manufacturing and export of China's electronics products had declined in this period. In January and February 2009, the output growth rate of China's electronics industry decreased by 9.4% and export delivery value of the electronics industry decreased by 19%, year-on-year.