MARCH 30, 2009--IPC - Association Connecting Electronics Industries (Bannockburn, IL, USA; www.ipc.org) has announced the February findings from its monthly North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program.
Rigid PCB shipments are down 23.2% and bookings are down 35.5% in February 2009 from February 2008. Year-to-date, rigid PCB shipments are down 21.1% and bookings are down 33.2%. Compared to the previous month, rigid PCB shipments decreased 3.2% and rigid bookings decreased 3.5%. The book-to-bill (B:B) ratio for the North American rigid PCB industry in February 2009 remained below parity at 0.89.
Flexible circuit shipments in February 2009 are up 3.6% and bookings are down 6.1% compared to February 2008. Year-to-date, flexible circuit shipments are up 9.4% and bookings are down 4.2%. Compared to the previous month, flexible circuit shipments are up 8.7% and flex bookings were up 23.9%. The North American flexible circuit B:B in February 2009 climbed just above parity at 1.02.
For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry shipments in February 2009 decreased 21.4% from February 2008 and orders booked decreased 33.7% from February 2008. Year-to-date, combined industry shipments are down 19.2% and bookings are down 31.6%. Compared to the previous month, combined industry shipments for February 2009 are down 2.3% and bookings are down 1.6%. The combined (rigid and flex) industry B:B in February 2009 was 0.90.
"The book-to-bill ratio for PCBs overall has stayed in negative territory for 10 months now, and orders are still declining compared to last year," says IPC president Denny McGuirk. "This suggests we will continue to see weak sales for the next few months at least. The flexible circuit segment of the industry is faring better than rigid PCBs right now," he added.
-- Posted by Vision Systems Design, www.vision-systems.com
