BERLIN – After two years of favorable results, the first signs of market stagnation are now becoming apparent in the German component distribution sector, says a key German trade group.

Nevertheless, revenue of companies in the German Association of Component Distribution grew 4% to €922 million ($1.05 billion) in the first quarter.

Orders were down nearly 17% to €832 million, bringing the book-to-bill ratio to 0.90, says FBDi, which compiles the data.

Growth in passive components continued at an above-average rate, up 21.4% to €114 million. Semiconductors were also up 3.5% to €664 million during the period, says the trade body.

All other product areas, including electromechanics were down 4.1% to €89 million. As a result, there was a slight shift in favor of passive components (12%) and semiconductors (72%) in terms of percentage share of the overall market. Electromechanics held its 10% share, while all other segments combined for 6%.

“We're currently witnessing a return to normality in the development of orders and revenues, even though there are still some bottlenecks in certain product segments,” said FBDi chairman Georg Steinberger. “However, the first quarter is a good indicator for the rest of the year. We’re not expecting any major leaps and believe customer warehouses are generally well stocked.”

Ed.: €1 = US$1.14

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