BANNOCKBURN, IL – The September 90-day moving average shipments of all types of circuit boards rose 8.5% year-on-year, while bookings fell 0.4%, according to the latest poll of North American PCB fabricators.

A large percentage of the production includes boards built offshore and distributed by North American vendors. According to IPC, 33% of the shipments reported were produced offshore.

The domestic book-to-bill ratio fell 0.05 points to 1.13. The ratio is based on data collected by IPC from rigid and flex producers and is calculated by dividing three months worth of orders by sales. A ratio over 1.0 is considered an indicator of rising demand.

The ratio for rigid PCBs rose 0.07 points to 1.14, while that of flexible circuits dropped 0.42 points to 1.10.

“Rigid PCB sales in October continued a bit below last year, but the increase in bookings suggests that this segment of the industry will have a solid fourth quarter,” said IPC in a statement. “The sudden decrease in October bookings for flex was a surprise, but it is not a cause for alarm. Monthly bookings tend to be very volatile in the flex segment.”

Rigid board shipments, estimated by IPC to make up more than 75% of all domestic PCBs, were down 3.6% in October vs. a year ago. Bookings rose 31.5% during the month.

Flex sales rose 49.1% and bookings dropped 62.7%. Value-added services made up 78% of the shipment value of flex circuits.

Year-to-date, rigid shipments are down 4.6% and bookings are up 1.5%. Flex bookings are up 29.9% and shipments are up 17%. Shipments of all boards are up 1.9% and bookings are up 5.3%.

Sequentially, combined shipments were down 10.2% vs. September, while bookings were down 35.9%. Rigid shipments were down 18.3% and bookings fell 12.8%. Flex shipments fell 14.7% and bookings were down 77.3% vs. September.

Sixty-seven percent of PCB shipments reported was domestically produced. Domestic production accounted for 85% of rigid PCB and 29% of flexible circuit shipments in September, IPC said.

In a statement, IPC cautioned that month-to-month comparisons should be made with caution as they may reflect cyclical effects.