German component market - up slightly

The turnover of the FBDi member companies in Germany increased by 2.4% to 772 million. Euro; orders showed an increase of nearly 9% to 788 million Euro. Concerning the technologies there is no changes. Semiconductors increased again by 3.7% to 540 million Euro, which corresponds to a 70% share of the total market. Passive components grew slightly to 108 million Euro, representing a share of 14%. The electromechanical sector shows a similar picture, having declined by 3.1% to nearly 75 million Euro, which is a share of 10%. Displays show an increase of 12% to about 23 million Euro, representing nearly 3% of the market. And power supplies (batteries, accumulators, converters) rose by 15% to 18.5 million Euro (2.5% share of the total market). “After a mixed first quarter all segments are back on a growth and show a rising booking situation, the book-to-bill ratio is also positive with 1.02”, says Goerg Steinberger, Chairman of the Board of the FBDi association. Steinberger is expecting a single digit growth for 2015, as the exchange rate fluctuations weaken and European national economies will recover again. Only the situation in Greece remains open. Also, the situation in China is difficult to assess. Due to the weak stock prices the purchasing power remain lower, which might compensate the weakening export due to domestic demand. Bank loans for the Chinese ‘Mittelstand’ will, if at all, only be slowly allocated. The banking world is awaiting the impact of the stock decline and of the governmental countermeasures. Additionally, the economic crisis in Russia is becoming noticeable. ----- Images: © FBDi