North American PCB business growth slowed in May

30th June 2016

IPC

Peter Smith

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IPC has announced the May 2016 findings from its monthly North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. Sales and orders in May continued ahead of last year’s levels, but at slower rates than in recent month. The book-to-bill ratio also declined slightly but remains positive at 1.01.

Total North American PCB shipments in May 2016 were 4.4 percent above the same month last year. Year-to-date growth is up 5.3 percent for the first five months of the year. Compared to the preceding month, May shipments were down 3.1 percent.

PCB bookings in May increased a mere 0.1 percent year-on-year, bringing year-to-date bookings growth down to a positive 4.0 percent. Orders in May 2016 were down 5.6 percent from the previous month.

“Business growth in the North American PCB industry remained positive, but growth rates have slowed,” said Sharon Starr, IPC’s director of market research. “Shipments exceeded bookings in May for the first time in six months, which pushed the book-to-bill ratio down another notch, nearly to parity” she added.

The next edition of IPC’s North American PCB Market Report,containing detailed May data from IPC’s PCB Statistical Program, will be available within the next two weeks. The monthly report presents detailed findings on rigid PCB and flexible circuit sales and orders, including separate rigid and flex book-to-bill ratios, military and medical market growth, 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.