Rigid PCB shipments down 13.1% YoY in September

Year to date, rigid PCB shipments decreased 0.4 percent and bookings declined 10.8 percent. Compared to the previous month, rigid PCB shipments increased 3.5 percent and rigid bookings decreased 8.9 percent. The book-to-bill ratio for the North American rigid PCB industry in September 2011 dipped just below parity at 0.99. Flexible circuit shipments in September 2011 were down 0.7 percent and bookings declined 1.8 percent compared to September 2010. Year to date, flexible circuit shipments increased 1.6 percent and bookings increased 3.0 percent. Compared to the previous month, flexible circuit shipments increased 20.1 percent and flex bookings were up 9.9 percent. The North American flexible circuit book-to-bill ratio in September 2011 fell to 0.97. For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry shipments in September 2011 decreased 12.0 percent from September 2010, as orders booked decreased 18.4 percent from September 2010. Year to date, combined industry shipments were down 0.2 percent and bookings were down 9.6 percent. Compared to the previous month, combined industry shipments for September 2011 increased 4.9 percent and bookings decreased 7.3 percent. The combined (rigid and flex) industry book-to-bill ratio in September 2011 declined to 0.99. “Sales and orders were both under last year’s levels in September,” said IPC President & CEO Denny McGuirk. “Bookings have been especially sluggish and that has caused a drop in the book-to-bill ratio … although it is still very near parity, which suggests that flat sales is the likely near-term scenario.” ----- All Graphs © IPC / All graphs have zoom-function.