May 2007 North American PCB book-to-bill ratio shows decline
JULY 11, 2007--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 14.8 percent and bookings are down 12.2 percent in May 2007 from May 2006.
Year to date, rigid PCB shipments are down 10.9 percent and bookings are down 17.7 percent. Compared to the previous month, rigid PCB shipments increased 6.7 percent and rigid bookings increased 2.1 percent. The book-to-bill ratio for the North American rigid PCB industry in May 2007 dipped slightly below parity at 0.98. This indicates that, during the next two to three months, sales of rigid PCBs are likely to continue at about the same level below the 2006 as the industry has been seeing so far this year.
Flexible circuit shipments in May 2007 were down 10.1 percent and bookings were up 2.9 percent compared to May 2006. Year to date, flexible circuit shipments are up 0.7 percent and bookings are up 23.8 percent. Compared to the previous month, flexible circuit shipments increased 15.7 percent and flex bookings were down 0.4 percent. The North American flexible circuit book-to-bill ratio continued its climb to 1.32 in May, indicating probable sales growth in the near term.
For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry shipments in May 2007 decreased 14.5 percent from May 2006 and orders booked decreased 11.2 percent from May 2006. Year to date, combined industry shipments are down 10.3 percent and bookings are down 15.6 percent. Compared to the previous month, combined industry shipments for May 2007 are up 7.2 percent and bookings are up 1.9 percent. The combined (rigid and flex) industry book-to-bill ratio in May 2007 remained just above parity at 1.01.
"In the rigid PCB segment, book-to-bill ratios are hovering at or slightly under parity, which suggests that this year's business is likely to hold steady but remain below last year's levels for at least a few more months," said IPC president Denny McGuirk. "In the flexible circuit industry, the book-to-bill ratio is still climbing due to recent increases in bookings and generally flat shipment growth. Overall PCB sales in the first five months of 2007 are now about 10 percent below the same period in 2006," he added, "which reflects the current economic slowdown."
