Year-on-year sales growth was flat in February, but the book-to-bill ratio strengthened, reports the IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries.
Total North American PCB shipments decreased 0.5 percent in February 2014 from February 2013. Year-to-date shipment growth remained negative compared to the same period in 2013, but is improving and reached -4.0 percent in February. Compared to the previous month, PCB shipments increased 8.7 percent.
PCB bookings continued negative at -11.5 percent year over year, which pushed year-to-date order growth down to -7.8 percent. Order growth improved 1.8 percent, however, over the previous month.
The North American PCB book-to-bill ratio strengthened for the third straight month and reached 0.99, just under parity, in February.
“A strengthening book-to-bill ratio is a hopeful sign, but it is still in negative territory, which is an indicator of sluggish growth in the next few months,” said Sharon Starr, IPC’s director of market research. “While economic indicators are positive for 2014, the PCB industry’s recovery is off to a slow start,” Starr added.
