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16 The PCB Magazine • December 2014 the economic climate and the markets which the individual European countries serve (e.g., military expenditure is declining but commer- cial aerospace is a growth sector, with the major OEMs having substantial forward order books). In Europe, therefore, electronics production fol- lowing a 5% decline in 2014 is expected to grow by 2.5% in 2015 and slightly less in 2016 and 2017. The bad news for the European fabrica- tor is that two key markets, instrumentation and medical, are heading down into negative growth at the end of 2014 as shown in Figure 6. The electronics production forecast for Eu- rope suggests a suppressed recovery in demand for printed circuits boards through most of 2015. As well as suppressing demand from local fabricators, this will have the effect of slightly suppressing PCB imports. Despite the fragile na- ture of the Eurozone economy, PCB production has grown in the first nine months of 2014 with Figure 5: electronics production in europe, 12/12 growth, historic and forecast 2014–2017. Figure 6: european electronics production, 6/12 growth curve, sector trends. 2015 OUTLOOk FOR THE PCB INDUSTRy: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIvE continues