November PCB industry sales continue just under last year's sales

JANUARY 2, 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 November 2007 Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. Rigid PCB shipments are down 9.6% and bookings were up 11.8% in November 2007 from November 2006. Year to date, rigid PCB shipments are down 9.1% and bookings are down 8.0%. Compared to the previous month, rigid PCB shipments decreased 1.7% and rigid bookings decreased 4.1%. The book-to-bill ratio for the North American rigid PCB industry in November 2007 was 1.06.

Flexible circuit shipments in November 2007 were down 1.6% and bookings were up 12.6% compared to November 2006. Year to date, flexible circuit shipments are down 6.4% and bookings are up 5.5%. Compared to the previous month, flexible circuit shipments were up 16.3% and flex bookings rose 4.3%. The North American flexible circuit book-to-bill fell back to 1.02 in November.

For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry shipments in November 2007 decreased 9.1% and orders booked increased 11.8% from November 2006. Year to date, combined industry shipments are down 9.0% and bookings are down 7.2%. Compared to the previous month, combined industry shipments for November 2007 are down 0.6% and bookings are down 3.5%. The combined (rigid and flex) industry book-to-bill ratio in November 2007 remained positive at 1.06.

Said IPC president Denny McGuirk, "The book-to-bill ratios have remained positive and the fundamentals appear to be in good shape."