ATLANTA – July sales sentiment and August expectations for electronics component sales registered an accelerating, refreshing recovery from the doldrums the industry suffered in the second quarter, according to ECIA's monthly Electronic Component Sales Trend Survey.
Sentiment for overall electronic component sales improved by 6.7 points to reach 83.0 in July, and the outlook for August points to a recovery of overall sentiment up to 94.7, the highest level since one year ago in July 2022. However, caution regarding the outlook is prudent given the dashed expectations compared to actual results in recent surveys, ECIA said.
"Overall, the July survey delivers encouraging news with solid indications that the market environment is improving in the second half of 2023," said ECIA Chief Analyst Dale Ford. "In the analysis last month, it was hoped that sales equilibrium could be achieved in Q3 leading to renewed growth in Q4 2023 or Q1 2024. The July results strengthen this expectation and increases the chances of a return to sales growth being pulled in to Q4 2023."
All three component categories (Electro-Mechanical/Connectors, Passives, Semiconductors) achieved improved scores for July. August is the Electro-Mechanical/Connectors category jumps by 17.5 in the August outlook to pass the threshold of 100, but caution should be exercised in this outlook since this category had been forecast to break above 100 before and fell far short. The individual category scores range from 80.6 to 84.3 in July with Electro-Mechanical on top, while the improvement and gap between top and bottom grows significantly in August with a range of 89.2 to 101.7. Semiconductors sees the weakest outlook for August.
Find the complete summary of the survey results here.