What to expect in 2013 for the Connector Industry

The connector industry is going through a slowdown in demand which began in October 2011 and has continued throughout 2012. Almost all connector companies have sales down in the low to mid single digits through September this year. However, we have been forecasting growth to begin in the 4th quarter of 2012. First, we have easier comparisons because of the industry’s poor showing in 4Q11 and historically the last quarter of each year is the best of the year.

A few of the large connector manufacturers forecast growth in the final quarter of this calendar year. This is very encouraging and we believe a precursor to reasonably good sales growth in 2013. Our estimate is for connector industry sales to be up year over year in high single digits of +7% to +9% in 2013.

This said, we still have some significant head winds i.e. Europe is still reporting double digit declines and world GDP growth continues to be relatively slow. As a result it would be easy to consider the Bishop & Associates’ forecast as optimistic.

It would be interesting to get feedback from the industry. What do you think will happen in 2013? Will we achieve sales growth or will demand remain slow? What percentage growth or decline do you believe will happen in 2013?