North American PCB sales growth continues

Total North American PCB shipments in July 2016 were 1.2 percent above the same month last year. Year-to-date as of July, shipment growth is up 5.4 percent. Compared to the preceding month, July shipments were down 18.0 percent.

PCB bookings in July decreased 16.3 percent year-on-year, bringing year-to-date bookings growth down to a negative 1.1 percent. Orders in July 2016 were down 26.1 percent from the previous month.

“While year-on-year sales growth continued in the North American PCB industry in July, it was the decline in orders for the second consecutive month that pushed the book-to-bill ratio farther down,” said Sharon Starr, IPC’s director of market research. “Growth rates have been mixed for different segments of the industry,” she added, “with some extreme differences between rigid PCB and flexible circuit producers, and between company size tiers.”

The next edition of IPC’s North American PCB Market Report,containing detailed July data from IPC’s PCB Statistical Program, will be available within the 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, 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.