BANNOCKBURN, IL – Total North American printed circuit board shipments decreased 3.4% in June 2013 compared to June 2012. Orders decreased 6.1% year-over-year, says IPC.

Year to date, PCB shipments were down 4.7%, and orders were down 1.3%. Sequentially, PCB shipments were up 12%, but orders fell 3.6%.

Shipments outpaced orders in June for the first time in seven months, causing the PCB book-to-bill ratio to slip to 1.05. A ratio of more than 1.00 suggests current demand is ahead of supply, which is a positive indicator for sales growth over the next three to six months.

Flex circuit board sales continued their year-over-year growth in June, but order growth remained below last year’s levels, says IPC. Rigid PCB sales and orders both underperformed last year’s levels, but the negative margin has been improving in recent months.

“Until this June, monthly PCB orders outpaced sales every month since January, which has produced positive book-to-bill ratios for the past six months,” said Sharon Starr, IPC director of market research.  “A turnaround in sales growth this year still seems likely, but is not happening as quickly as the leading indicators suggested. Based on the market’s unusually slow response to order growth, and the industry slowdown worldwide, we are revising our outlook for 2013 North American PCB sales growth,” she explained. “We expect to see sales strengthening in the second half of this year, resulting in 2013 sales growth of less than 1%.”