2003 PWB production in Japan was slightly down

METI released the November PWB production data in Japan last week. There was a small decline from October, but it looked stable. Usually, December production does not change drastically from October and November. Now, we are able to estimate the whole PWB production of 2003 in Japan with good accuracy. The total production value of 2003 could be slightly smaller than 800 billion Yen with the METI’s members. It is very close to 2002, probably in +/- 2%. However, the total volume of 2003 could have a 3 to 5 % decline from the previous year. It means the Japanese PWB manufacturers have been shifting to the high end products.