BANNOCKBURN, IL – Total North American printed circuit board orders in July increased 10.2% year-over-year, while shipments decreased 1.5%, says IPC.

Year to date, PCB shipments were down 4.2%, and orders were up 0.1% compared to the same period last year. Sequentially, PCB shipments for the month were down 13.7%, and orders were down 3.2%.

The PCB book-to-bill ratio strengthened to 1.06. A ratio of more than one suggests current demand is ahead of supply, which is a positive indicator for sales growth over the next three to six months.

Although still not quite in positive territory, year-over-year sales growth has been improving steadily over the past three months, bolstered by solid growth in orders since the beginning of 2013. Most of the improvements in July’s results are due to the strong performance of the rigid PCB segment, says the firm.

“Month-to-month growth is typically negative in the first month of the quarter due to seasonal trends,” said IPC’s director of market research Sharon Starr. “Year-on-year growth is the best indicator of industry performance, and these growth rates in July continue to be encouraging. Rigid PCB year-on-year sales growth in July reached positive territory for the first time in more than two years. Orders in both rigid and flex segments were strong, resulting in a slight uptick in the PCB book-to-bill ratio.”

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