The high order backlog is what is allowing the connector industry to remain strong. Sales in the third quarter of 2022 were up 10.0% from 3Q 2021 at $22,160 million. Sales in the fourth quarter are expected to slow down. Sales for the year are projected to finish at $83,822 million, up 7.5 percent from 2021.
The industry backlog was $24,846 million at the end of September. This is down $827 million from the August backlog of $25,673 million. Based on the industry average weekly sales of $1,682 million, we have 14.8 weeks of backlog. To date, the industry has booked $67,282 million and achieved sales of $63,935 million.
The connector industry has reported four consecutive months of below 1.0 book-to-bill ratios. This is shown in the following graph. Note, September’s BTB ratio of 0.90 to 1.0 is the lowest BTB ratio ever recorded by Bishop & Associates!
Connector order demand is slowing down and we anticipate this trend will continue through the fourth quarter.
North America is outpacing the other regions in sales growth. Our full year 2022 forecast is for sales of $83,822 million, up 7.5 percent over 2021 sales of $77,991 million. We forecast North America as the fastest growing region with sales up +13.6 percent.
