PCB industry shipments down but shows some signs of improvement
DECEMBER 3, 200--IPC--Association Connecting Electronics Industries (Bannockburn, IL, USA; www.ipc.org), a global trade association of 2400 member companies representing all facets of the electronic interconnection industry, has announced its findings from its monthly Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. Rigid PCB shipments are down 0.8% and bookings are down 1.7% in October 2007 from October 2006. Year to date, rigid PCB shipments are down 9.1% and bookings are down 9.6%. Compared to the previous month, rigid PCB shipments decreased 10.7% and rigid bookings decreased 16.4%. The book-to-bill ratio for the North American rigid PCB industry in October 2007 remained steady at 1.08.
Flexible circuit shipments in October 2007 are down 8.6% and bookings are up 0.2% compared to October 2006. Year to date, flexible circuit shipments are down 6.9% and bookings are up 4.8%. Compared to the previous month, flexible circuit shipments decreased 0.3% and flex bookings were up 6.8%. The North American flexible circuit book-to-bill ratio rose to 1.10 in October.
For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry shipments in October 2007 decreased 1.3% from October 2006, and orders booked decreased 1.6% from October 2006. Year to date, combined industry shipments are down 9.0% and bookings are down 8.7%. Compared to the previous month, combined industry shipments for October 2007 are down 10.1% and bookings are down 15.2%. The combined (rigid and flex) industry book-to-bill ratio in October 2007 remained at 1.08.
"Monthly PCB industry sales in North America are now just slightly under last year's sales for the same month, which is an improvement over the earlier months of this year," said IPC president Denny McGuirk. "Year-to-date, the industry is about 9% below 2006, but this could improve further in the last quarter. Our surveys show that order backlogs are growing and inventory levels are declining for most of the companies, and that is a positive sign," he added.