European sales of
components through distribution continue to decline.
The latest market figures from
IDEA
(the International Distribution of Electronics Association) for the
European DTAM (distributor total available market) show a 9% fall
year on year for the first three months of 2008.
The quarterly
sales were 3.8% ahead of the last quarter of 2007, this brings
little joy to the market.
According to
Silvio Baronchelli, president of IDEA, the European component DTAM
in Q1 has shown a quarter-on-quarter growth but below the expected
level. In Europe Q1 is usually the strongest quarter.
“Q1 has
historically been the leading growth quarter in Europe, however
global economic forecasts suggest that overall economic activity is
likely to decline, which may impact electronic component markets
and restrict growth in 2008,” commented Baronchelli.
New orders for
semiconductors in Q1 fell, year-on-year, by 12%, by 0.2% for
Passive and by 6.9% for e-mech and other components.