Among the highlights of IPC’s North American Printed Circuit Board Report: Rigid printed circuit board shipments declined 26.2%, while bookings were down 22.3% in July 2009 from July 2008. Year to date, rigid printed circuit board shipments were down 28.9% and bookings fell by 28.7%. Compared to the previous month, rigid printed circuit board shipments fell 11.8% and rigid bookings decreased 22.9%.
Additional statistics provided in IPC’s report showed flexible circuit shipments in July 2009 went down 14.9%, while bookings declined 32.9% compared to July 2008. Year to date, flexible circuit shipments were down 1% and bookings were down 9%. Compared to the previous month, flexible circuit shipments went down 17.8% and flex bookings decreased 41.6%.
For rigid printed circuit boards and flexible circuits combined, industry shipments in July 2009 decreased 25.3% from July 2008 and orders booked decreased 23.1% from July 2008. Year to date, combined industry shipments were down 27.1% and bookings were down 27.4%. Compared to the previous month, combined industry shipments for July 2009 decreased 12.3% and bookings went down 24.5 %.
“After the encouraging results in June, rigid printed circuit board sales in July fell back to the negative growth rates of prior months and flexible circuit growth rates continued to decline,” said Denny McGuirk, IPC president. “The year-on-year growth rates in rigid printed circuit boards and for printed circuit boards overall continue to improve each month, although they are still negative.”
For the printed circuit board and flexible circuit board industry as a whole, the book-to-bill ratio remains positive, McGuirk noted. For instance, the book-to-bill ratio for the North American rigid printed circuit board industry in July 2009 pulled back slightly to 1.09, while The North American flexible circuit book-to-bill ratio in July 2009 fell back to 0.94. All totalled, the combined (rigid and flex) industry book-to-bill ratio in July 2009 retreated to 1.07. Note: the book-to-bill ratios are calculated by dividing the value of orders booked over the past three months by the value of sales billed during the same period from companies in IPC’s survey sample. A ratio of more than 1.00 suggests that current demand is ahead of supply, which is a positive indicator for sales growth over the next two to six months.
Visit IPC’s website to view the complete July report.
