KOZHIKODE: The floods in Thailand have resulted in a steep hike in the prices of computer components. Thailand, one of the major exporters of computer components in the world, also has a major share of market in Kerala. Two major hard disc manufactures - Seagate and Western Digital- have their major production centres in Thailand. In the last month itself the price of the hard disks had increased more than twofold. 500 Giga Byte hard disks of Seagate company, which had the price tag of Rs 1,800 a month ago, cost almost Rs 4,200 today. This exorbitant rise in the price had caused the sale of assembled computers in the state to fall. “The market is down as people are not willing to buy assembled computers. 75% of the assembled computers use the Seagate hard disks and other imported components,” said John Kottara, who is the state PRO of the All Kerala IT Dealers Association (AKITDA). Other than the hard disks, computer monitor prices are also on the rise. “The assemblers are also not taking up orders from customers as they would have to suffer on the profit margin,” John said. The association also alleged that major distributors in the state were hoarding the hard disks anticipating the price rise. “In usual scenarios, the distributors have a buffer stock for almost three to six months. But the distributors are unethically holding on to the stock to sell it for higher prices. It is adding to the woes of the retail suppliers of the products in the state,” said John. While Redington, the major distributor in the IT sector in Kerala, is dismissing the claims. “The rise in price is due to the disruption in regular flow of the computer components into the market. We are not holding any stock with ourselves. If we had to, we could have done it with all the products to raise the price,” said Remith Martin, area sales manager of Redington, Kozhikode. Redington alone sells around 10,000 hard disks a month in the state. The other major players in distribution are Ingram Micro and Cyberstar.
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