Growth Returning to West European Electronics Industry
In-Stat/MDR, Scottsdale, Ariz., www.instat.com -- Semiconductor International, 4/1/2004
The electronics industry downturn, which began with the collapse of the telecommunications and dot-com boom at the end of 2000/beginning of 2001, continued into 2003. According to a recent report published by Reed Electronics Research and distributed by In-Stat/MDR, an expected recovery during the first half of the year failed to materialize, resulting in the West European electronics market declining by a further, but more modest, 2.2%, following declines of 13.4 and 10.7% in 2002 and 2001, respectively.
However, a brighter picture is forecast for the West European electronics market in 2004, with confidence returning across the industry. Signs of a recovery started to appear in the second half of 2003, and gained momentum in the final quarter. The recovery is expected to accelerate in 2004, although pricing pressures are expected to continue to dampen short-term growth in value terms in the important IT and mobile handset sectors.
The report also found that:
- Rising demand for new communications and consumer devices will be increasingly served from production plants outside the region as electronics output migrates to low-cost regions. As a result, the West European electronic components market will have the lowest growth globally as the industry rebounds in 2004 and 2005.
- France and the UK, in particular, have been hit by the loss of volume manufacturing — France in the fixed and wireless communication segments, and the UK in communications, computing and TV manufacturing.
- In contrast, Germany has faired better. Despite a weak economy, the country has benefited from its leading position in industrial and automotive electronics.
 |
The report, "Yearbook of World Electronics Data — Volume 1 2004 (Western Europe)," provides a detailed analysis of 16 countries in Western Europe, allowing readers to track trends by country and major product group. The report is fully revised annually, and has been published since 1973. The report is part of a global database that provides comparable data for 51 countries. For more information, visit www.instat.com/catalog/Scatalogue.asp?ID=184, or contact Rick Vogelei at 1-480-609-4533, rvogelei@reedbusiness.com. The report is priced at $1400.
