North American PCB Sales Growth Turns Positive
IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries® announced the September 2017 findings from its monthly North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. Positive year-over-year shipment growth was seen in September for the first time this year. Strong order growth in recent months kept the book-to-bill ratio high at 1.14 in September.
Total North American PCB shipments in September 2017 were up 1.0 percent compared to the same month last year. This year to date, shipments are 3.5 percent below the same period last year. Compared to the preceding month, September shipments increased 13.8 percent.
PCB bookings in September increased 4.1 percent year-on-year, while year-to-date order growth held steady at 4.0 percent above the same period last year. Bookings in September were up 5.3 percent compared to the previous month.
“After eight consecutive months of book-to-bill ratios above parity (1.0), North American PCB sales finally saw positive year-over-year growth in September, driven by rigid PCB shipments,” said Sharon Starr, IPC’s director of market research. “Thanks to strong orders in recent months, the book-to-bill ratio remained high in September, indicating a likelihood of further sales growth in the coming months,” she added.
Detailed Data Available
The next edition of IPC’s North American PCB Market Report,containing detailed September data from IPC’s PCB Statistical Program, will be available next week. The monthly report presents detailed findings on rigid PCB and flexible circuit sales and orders, including separate rigid and flex book-to-bill ratios, growth trends by company size tiers, demand for prototypes, and other timely data. This report is available free to current participants in IPC’s PCB Statistical Program and by subscription to others. More information about this report can be found at www.ipc.org/market-research-reports.
