North American PCB book-to-bill ratios stay positive

JANUARY 31, 2008--IPC-Association Connecting Electronics Industries (Northbrook, 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 December 2007 Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. Rigid PCB shipments were down 5.9% and bookings were up 6.8% in December 2007 from December 2006. Year to date, rigid PCB shipments were down 8.9% and bookings were down 7.0%. Compared to the previous month, rigid PCB shipments increased 8.0% and rigid bookings increased 3.1%. The book-to-bill ratio for the North American rigid PCB industry in December 2007 was 1.01.

Flexible circuit shipments in December 2007 were up 1.0% and bookings were down 9.7% compared to December 2006. Year to date, flexible circuit shipments were down 5.7% and bookings were up 4.0%. Compared to the previous month, flexible circuit shipments were up 5.6% and flex bookings rose 2.2%. The North American flexible circuit book-to-bill was exactly at parity, 1.00, in December.

For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry shipments in December 2007 decreased 5.4% from December 2006, and orders booked increased 5.5% from December 2006. Year to date, combined industry shipments were down 8.7% and bookings were down 6.3%. Compared to the previous month, combined industry shipments for December 2007 were up 7.8% and bookings were up 3.1%. The combined (rigid and flex) industry book-to-bill ratio in December 2007 declined but remained positive at 1.01.

"The North American PCB industry ended 2007 with sales for the year at 8.7% below its 2006 sales," said IPC president Denny McGuirk. "The good news is that book-to-bill ratios have stayed positive since last April," he continued. "The year-on-year growth rate for flexible circuit shipments improved during the fourth quarter of 2007 and finally turned positive in December. Year-on-year growth in rigid PCB orders also improved and was positive in the last two months of 2007," he added.