A Happy New Year for the UK’s electronics industry?

The survey of 200 companies is said to paint a more positive outlook than that of twelve months ago; growth is expected in all markets and across all sectors and sizes of companies. It's a sentiment shared by the Electronic Component Supply Network (ECSN), which predicts that demand for electronic components is likely to increase by 5.2% compared to 2013. ECSN points to the book to bill ratio - orders to invoices - as a good indicator of where the market is going. Currently, the ratio stands at 1.05, indicating orders are increasing, and is inching towards 1.1:1, at which point, says ECSN, stronger growth can be expected. What's interesting in the EEF survey are the top manufacturing 'resolutions'. Included in the top four strategies for 2014 is increased overseas marketing efforts. Exporting is an important issue for the UK's electronics industry. In an exclusive interview to be published in New Electronics' 14 January issue, techUK's chief executive Julian David says UK technology companies must be exporters and that his goal is to get 1000 more of them exporting over the next two years. Overall, 70% of companies surveyed by EEF expect the UK economy to improve in the coming year, with 62% expecting manufacturing prospects to improve.