LONDON — European sales of semiconductors in February, when measured in Euros, came in at Euros 1.6 billion, the worst performance in a decade, according to an analysis by the European Semiconductor Industry Association (Brussels, Belgium).

The ESIA stressed that the "exchange rate imbalance of the Euro compared to the U.S. dollar continued to impact the European sales picture."

Sales, when expressed in Euros, were down 7.4 percent on the previous month and 28.9 percent lower when compared with the same month a year ago. On a year-to-date basis, semiconductor sales declined by 25.2 percent in 2009 versus the same period in the year 2008.

As reported earlier , the three-month moving average of sales of semiconductors in Europe for February was $2.11 billion, down 36.1 percent on the same period a year before and the biggest fall among the four geographic areas tracked by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization.

The three-month average of worldwide sales of semiconductors was $14.17 billion in February, a fall of 30.4 percent, compared to February 2008, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

The ESIA notes that while most sectors showed a decline, NAND flash memory and MOS Digital signal processor sales remained in positive territory in February compared with the previous month, with growth rates of 4 percent and 3 percent respectively.

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