PCB export business to the dark moment: cut order stack logistics encountered obstacles, turn to explore the domestic market

After surviving the difficulties of the domestic epidemic, the global epidemic is "out of control". For the PCB industry which has gradually resumed production in China, the export business is facing the darkest moment.

As we all know, PCB, as the basic industry of electronic information product manufacturing, was originally affected by the fluctuation of macroeconomic cycle. This time, due to the urgent overseas epidemic, the global PCB output value may be affected in the short term.

In particular, as a country with more than 50% of the global PCB output value, there are not a few PCB manufacturers focusing on export business. Based on the lockdown measures of overseas countries, domestic PCB manufacturers are also facing the loss of orders, delayed delivery and other problems, and turn to accelerate the development of the domestic market.

The export business has been cut off

Prismark forecasts that global PCB output will grow at a compound annual rate of about 4.3% between 2019 and 2024; The output value of PCB industry is forecast to increase by 2.0% in 2020.

At present, the global printed circuit board manufacturing enterprises are mainly distributed in mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia and other regions. Among them, the output value of PCB in China accounts for more than 50%, and the global production capacity continues to transfer to China.

With the increasing proportion of PCB output value in China in the world, PCB industry in mainland China has entered a stage of sustained and stable growth, and a PCB industrial cluster with the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta as the core regions has been formed. In addition, with the increasing output value of PCB industry, a large number of PCB manufacturers based on export business have emerged.

According to incomplete statistics of Jiwei Net, the export proportion of many PCB listed companies such as ultrasonic Electronics, Jingwang Electronics, Chongda Technology, Zhongjing Electronics, Yangming Circuit, Shiyun Circuit is larger. Among them, the export business of ultrasonic electronics accounts for 60%, and the main export areas are the United States, Germany, Japan, Australia and other places; Sunda technology export business accounts for about 70%, the main export areas for America, Europe, Japan and other places; Yangming Circuit exports more than 90% of the business, the main export areas for Europe, America and Southeast Asia and other regions.

However, throughout the world, at least 41 countries have entered a state of emergency. Currently, Europe, America and other places are the hardest hit by the epidemic. Tens of thousands of people have been confirmed in Italy, Spain, Germany, the United States and other places, and the number of newly confirmed cases is also rising sharply every day.

In this situation, many places to seal the measures have been launched, for export business based PCB manufacturers, it can be described as a "disaster". After more than a month of raging epidemic in China, manufacturers are working overtime to fulfill orders. However, due to the outbreak of foreign epidemics, logistics restrictions, delayed delivery of orders and other situations occur frequently. Moreover, there are unfulfilled orders, which directly encounter overseas customers' cancellation or cancellation of orders.

Recently, a PCB manufacturer revealed to Jiwei Net: "At present, the company received an urgent notice, cut orders by a quarter, there may be no order to do next month."

In addition, an industry analyst said: "For many export regions in Europe and the United States and other places, if the worldwide epidemic can not be effectively controlled in the short term, the order situation will not be ideal. In addition to shipping and logistics impacts, cancellations may occur if delivery is not timely."

"Judging from the current global epidemic situation, Chinese manufacturers with a large proportion of exports will continue to be under pressure for at least three months." Industry analysts say most PCB makers are responding by accelerating their push into the domestic market.

Accelerate the development of the domestic market

As the domestic epidemic situation is basically getting better, the country requires to accelerate the construction of new infrastructure at the policy level, especially the strong demand for 5G commercial use, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, intelligent terminals, etc., resulting in increased demand for high-end PCB products, such as high multilayer, high heat dissipation, high frequency PCB, arbitrary layer HDI, SLP, etc.

For the top PCB manufacturers in China, the layout in the high-end PCB field will inevitably usher in opportunities; But for the above mentioned many export business based PCB manufacturers, can not be generalized.

In particular, in the HDI market, only Ultrasonic Electronics, Founder Technology, Dongshan Precision Subsidiary, Jingwang Electronics, Zhongjing Electronics, Shenghong Technology, Xingsen Technology, etc. are capable of mass production of HDI above the third order in mainland China.

Among them, ultrasonic Electronics, Zhongjing Electronics and other financial statements in the first half of 2019 show that the proportion of export revenue of these two companies is significantly higher than the proportion of domestic sales. Ultrasonic electronics export revenue increased by 11.5%; Zhongjing Electronics export revenue growth of 54.23%.

Therefore, Ultrasonic Electronics has said on the interactive platform that the export proportion of the company is 60%, mainly to the United States, Germany, Japan, Australia and other places. Based on the continuation of the epidemic abroad, the supply and demand of the industrial chain and logistics delivery will be adversely affected to some extent.

Zhongjing Electronics said on the interactive platform that due to the epidemic factors, the company's production and operation in the first quarter will be affected to some extent. At the same time, Zhongjing Electronics raised funds to build a new PCB factory in Zhuhai, focusing on the development of a number of emerging categories of products related to 5G communication, to expand the domestic market.

Jingwang Electronics also said that due to the instability of the overseas epidemic, the company has been focusing on developing the domestic market, investing in the construction of high-end HDI projects with an annual output of 600,000 square meters, increasing the proportion of high value-added products and enhancing core competitiveness.

In contrast, Zonda's annual report for the first half of 2019 showed that its domestic sales revenue rose 28 percent, while exports fell 2 percent. At the same time, benefiting from ZTE's 5G base station motherboard PCB order, will have a substantial increase in domestic sales performance.

Industry insiders said: 5G commercial, automotive electronics and other markets do have a large number of new demand, but there are also more manufacturers in the expansion of production layout since last year, based on the customer system of the industrial chain, the original export manufacturers to domestic sales, mining new customers, it is not easy, there are still many difficulties to overcome.

Overall, under the continuous influence of the epidemic, the fluctuation of overseas markets will inevitably affect PCB manufacturers which mainly export to China. Based on the changes in the international trade environment, PCB industry is still under a big test, originally in the capital chain break and environmental pressure impact of small and medium-sized PCB manufacturers, are also accelerating out of the shuffle.