Hermann Reiter, Chairman of DMASS notes that the past year has been exceptionally challenging for the distribution industry in EMEA, and it is now facing the harsh reality of significant revenue losses.
In 2024, the overall distribution industry in EMEA experienced a staggering loss of more than €5.6 billion compared to 2023. The semiconductor sector bore the brunt of this decline, accounting for a majority of the losses, with a reduction of €4.7 billion.
This imbalance in the drop across various technologies highlights the consequences of un-equalised inventory flooding. DMASS, encompassing both the Semiconductor and IP&E segments, saw an overall decline of more than 26% in 2024 compared to 2023, equating to a quarter of its sales to customers and the market.
The IP&E segment experienced a year-over-year drop of 13.5%, with a 12.3% decline in Q4 2024 compared to Q4 2023. However, the semiconductor business faced a more severe downturn, with a 31,9% decrease compared to 2023 and a 30.3% drop in Q4 2024 compared to the same period last year.
Among the countries most affected in Q4 were Austria (-41%) and Germany (-36%), followed by Sweden (-37%), Turkey (-30%) and Benelux (-29%). Lowest decline Norway, Baltic States, Spain, and Rest of Europe (below 10%) whereby Ireland was able to grow (+3%).
Semiconductors (Q4)
Semiconductor distribution sales in Europe shrank by almost 30% to €2.16 billion, the lowest sales value since Q1/2021. Worst among the big countries was Germany with a minus of nearly 42%.
At the product side, weakest sales were in MOS micro and standard logic with a minus of over 40%. Only Optoelectronics and Programmable Logic seemed to do much better than average with ‘only’ 14% and 5% minus.
Interconnect, passive and electromechanical components (Q4)
In IP&E we see a further constant decline of the distribution market of -12.3% to €1.23 billion. Germany, Austria, and Benelux are still showing an over-proportional steep decline. Interesting to see Israel growing 16.2% in Q4.
Product-wise passives are still showing a bigger minus than electromechanical components and power supplies. The biggest minus can be seen with film capacitors with -26.1%, while sensors show a growth of 13%.
Reiter concluded: “Despite these challenging times, we strongly believe that 2025 will bring moderate growth rates, allowing us to rebound from the recent quarters of decline in our industry.
“A strong Europe will be essential to drive growth for our industry and customers.”
