BANNOCKBURN, IL — December shipments by North American printed circuit board fabricators fell 1.7% from a year ago and 5.1% sequentially.

Bookings for the month plunged 26.5% from November but rose 8.1% compared to the same month last year.

The book-to-bill ratio was 0.87, down 130 basis points sequentially to its lowest mark in over a year. The ratio is calculated by dividing the value of orders booked over the past three months by the value of sales billed during the same period from companies in IPC’s survey sample. A ratio of more than 1.0 is an indicator of future growth.

For the year, orders were down 6.5% while shipments rose 10.1%.

“Some of the weakness in this month's book-to-bill reflects uneven shipments figures in recent months,” said Shawn DuBravac, chief economist, IPC. “December results showed a second consecutive month of improvement.

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