MARCH 9--IPC--Association Connecting Electronics Industries (Bannockburn, IL; www.ipc.org) has announced the findings from its monthly Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. The North American PCB industry book-to-bill ratio for January 2005 climbed to 1.08. This ratio is based on monthly data collected from both rigid PCB and flexible circuit producers that participate in IPC's monthly PCB Statistical Program. Separately, the book-to-bill ratios in January 2005 were 1.00 for rigid PCBs and 1.36 for flexible circuits.
Rigid PCB shipments are up 12.4%, and bookings are up 9.0% in January 2005 from January 2004. Rigid PCB shipments from the survey sample increased 4.8% from the previous month, and rigid bookings increased 9.9% from the previous month.
Flexible circuit shipments are up 46.9%, and bookings are up 159.7% in January 2005 from January 2004. Compared to the previous month, flexible circuit shipments from the survey sample decreased 1.9%, and flex bookings decreased 37.1%.
For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry sales billed (shipments) in January 2005 increased 19.2% from January 2004, and orders booked increased 31.1% from January 2004. Combined industry shipments for January 2005 are up 2.5% over the previous month, and bookings are down 8.3% over the previous month.
The book-to-bill ratios and growth rates for rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined are heavily affected by the rigid PCB segment, which represents more than 75% of the current PCB market in North America. The influence of flexible circuits is growing, however, as flexible circuit shipments have shown stronger growth than rigid PCBs over the past eighteen months.
For more information, contact IPC Director of Market Research Sharon Starr at [email protected] or 847-597-2817.