ATLANTA – Distributor component sales for North America grew 14.8% in the third quarter versus a year ago, the Electronic Components Industry Association reported. Sales were down 1.5% sequentially, ECIA added.

Sales for the quarter were the second highest in dollars since ECIA started collecting distributor sales data in the March quarter of 2015.

The book to bill was 1.02, a sign of future growth, but down from 1.29 a year ago. The ratio is calculated by dividing the average bookings over three months to the average sales. A ratio over 1.0 suggests demand is ahead of supply, indicating growth in the next three to six months.

Distributor component sales totaled $4.2 billion for the quarter. Interconnect products were up 3% sequentially and 16.7% from a year ago. Passives were 4.7% higher sequentially and up 41.6% year-over-year. Semiconductors fell 4% from the June quarter but rose 9.5% from 2017. Electromechanical parts slipped 3.4% sequentially and were up 10.7% versus last year.

Total distributor sales were down 1.5% from June and up 14.8% from the third quarter a year ago.

Passive sales growth quarter-on-quarter came mainly from capacitors, which were up 8.2%. Semiconductors declined quarter-on-quarter driven by discretes and embedded processing, both of which fell 4.8%. The decline in electromechanical parts was driven by lower demand for products other than power supplies, relays and switches.

The ECIA is made up of leading electronic component manufacturers, manufacturer representatives and authorized distributors.