PCB |
North American PCB industry growth continues upward
IPC says that industry shipments and orders continued to grow at a brisk pace in March. The book-to-bill ratio retreated from its peak but remained strong at 1.13.
Total North American PCB shipments in March 2018 were up 10.4% compared to the same month last year. This year to date, shipments are 9.6% above the same period last year. Compared to the preceding month, March shipments increased 15.0%.
PCB bookings in March increased 13.8% year-over-year. Year-to-date order growth was 16.8% above the same period last year. Bookings in March were up 8.5% compared to the previous month.
“The North American PCB industry’s robust recovery continued in March,” said Sharon Starr, IPC’s director of market research. “Year-over-year growth has been consistently positive for sales in the last seven months and for bookings in the last 10 months. The outlook for this year is also encouraging, based on strong order growth in recent months and a book-to-bill ratio that has been above parity (1.0) for more than a year.”
