ELECTRONICS.CA PUBLICATIONS, the electronics industry market research and knowledge network, announces the availability of a new report entitled "Yearbook of World Electronics Data. Volume 1: West Europe".

Following the sharp downturn in the European and global electronics industry at the end of 2008 and in the first half of 2009 the market has recovered. Led initially by the emerging markets, the recovery has gained momentum with the industry showing strong growth in all regions. However, in the final months of 2010 there were signs that growth was slowing and the outlook for 2011/2012 will now depend on a sustained growth in both the European and global economy.

In Western Europe, the electronics industry has virtually completed the transformation from high-volume to shorter run production. In the future emphasis will be on areas where Europe has strong global position such as industrial, medical, high-end communications and automotive.

Since peaking in 2000, electronics output in the UK has declined sharply falling by an estimated 63% in the period to 2009. The country is being badly affected by the migration of production to low cost countries. The industry is heavily orientated towards the production of professional electronic equipment, which accounted for 79% of the industry's output in 2009. The computer segment accounted for 8.2% of the total in 2009 and declined by 27.3% this after a modest increase of 0.1% in the previous year. Production is forecast to decline by a further 8% in both 2010 and 2011, when computing will account for only 6.6% of overall output (2000: 31%).

Italy continues to be Europe's fourth largest electronics market behind Germany, France and the UK. In 2008, the country replaced Ireland as the fourth largest producer. However, since the peak in 2000, production has declined year on year apart from 2005 when the country posted modest growth of 0.6%. In 2008, output fell by 5.3% and by an estimated 12.0% in 2009. In 2010, electronics production is forecast to increase by 3.5%. At 22.2%, the control and instrumentation sector accounted for the largest proportion of output in 2009.

Output for the French electronics industry fell by 12.6% in 2009 and followed a decline of 7.3% in the prior year. Since the peak of 2000, output for the French electronics industry has fallen by 52% as a result of the migration of production to low cost locations in the computing, communications and consumer segments. In 2011, output will remain positive at 1.3% but will be impacted by the introduction of fiscal consolidation across Europe and in other developed markets.

The Finnish electronics industry is dominated by the communications sector. The country is a global leader in both fixed and wireless products. Together, the two product groups accounted for 71% of output in 2009. In contrast, computer products accounted for just 3.3% of production in 2009. The combination of an increasing proportion of mobile phone and network infrastructure production being undertaken offshore and the global downturn saw output decline by an estimated 42% in 2009 with further declines of 5% and 4% in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

Danish electronics output declined by 18% in 2009 and followed a decline of 2.7% in the prior year. Control, test and measuring equipment accounted for 31.7% of total production in 2009 and represented the largest sector in the Danish electronics industry. Production fell by an estimated 18.1% in 2009 as a result of the global downturn but has since recovered with forecasted growth of 5% in 2010 and although growth will ease in 2011 output is still expected to rise by 3.0%.

Germany is Europe's largest electronics producing nation and is generally diversified in the range of products it has to offer. Most sectors contribute extensively to the domestic market, as well as individual segments claiming sizeable shares of the world market. Control and instrumentation is the largest sector, accounting for around 30% of German production in 2008 with computer equipment accounting for 12%, radio communications equipment 5.8%, telecommunications 4.9% and medical 7.6%. Components accounted for 33.5% of the total. In 2009, electronics production declined by a more than anticipated 19.5%. Production in 2010 rebounded on the back of strong growth in exports and a better than expected domestic economy.

After increasing by a modest 2.1% in 2007, electronics output declined by 5.1% in 2008 in Austria as the global downturn impacted production in the final months of the year. Although there were signs of recovery in the later part of 2009, the sharp downturn in the first six months of the year resulted in electronics output declining by 11.3% for the year as a whole. Production increased by an estimated 7.2% in 2010 as the global economy recovered but will ease to 1.6% in 2011.

Details of the new report, table of contents and ordering information can be found on Electronics.ca Publications' web site. View the report:  Yearbook of World Electronics Data. Volume 1: West Europe