FRAMINGHAM, MA – With China now the top PC market worldwide, accounting for more than 21% of global shipments in 2012, slow February results and the likely impact on March are expected to lower first quarter global PC shipments by roughly 2% from recent forecasts, says International Data Corp.

The slowdown is partially due to the timing of the Chinese New Year, but new budget cuts from the government, as well as anti-corruption measures, are slowing purchases more than expected, says the firm.

March should recover somewhat in China, but not enough to offset the weak February results.

Other monthly results indicate close-to-forecast market performance in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Latin America, and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan)(APeJ), while supply chain data indicate room for a slightly larger downward adjustment, says IDC.

“Based on our latest quarterly figures, global PC shipments were expected to decline by 7.7% in the first quarter, as vendors and the supply chain work through the Windows 8 transition,” said Loren Loverde, program VP, Worldwide PC Trackers at IDC. “However, our February monthly data suggest that we could see a drop touching double-digits in the first quarter and a mid-single-digit decline in the second quarter before we see any recovery in the second half of the year.”