Electronic component orders flat in April, forecasters predict slow growth in 2007

Both the four-to-five-week and 12-month average index compiled by the Electronic Components, Assemblies & Materials Association (ECA) were flat in April, providing additional evidence that growth will be slower in 2007 than it has been the last two years.
 
While March is usually a slow month, April typically heralds a comeback, as the marketplace prepares for its normal second-half acceleration.  While the market could still pick up in the second forecasters are predicting that growth will slow in 2007.
 
At CARTS USA 2007 in late March, Sebastien Ropside of DECISION said that electronics production would slow to 7.8 percent this year from 8.6 percent last year, and settle at 6.1 percent for the five-year period between 2006 and 2011.  Recently, the Henderson Forecast Summary predicted a 6.8 percent gain in world production, compared to 9.1 percent in 2006.
 
"All the indicators seem to be in agreement," says Bob Willis, ECA president.  "Any growth, of course, is positive, but right now expectations in the industry are a bit lower than in recent years."
 
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