Updated on 23 Nov 2011
Dear customer of SafeTrolley.com,
We believe everybody knows the tragic Thai Floods for the past few weeks. While we hope all the best for Thai people, our daily life in Singapore has been influenced as well.
The CCTV hard disk, an important component of the DVR, the price has gone crazy recently – the price almost triples!
We have run out of the HDD stocks as well. Therefore, we regret to inform you that since now on, there will be a HDD price premium for the HDD. It usually ranges from $150 – $200.
We will closely monitor the situation. Once the HDD price comes back to normal, we will remove the extra cost for you.
Again, thanks for your understanding. Hope to provide the best security solutions for your family and company!
The below is the article from “Digital Time” on 23 November 2011, for your reference.
Copyright 2011 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
All Rights Reserved
The Straits Times Singapore November 23, 2011 Wednesday DIGITAL LIFE;
Thai floods cause hard disk prices to almost triple (Oo Gin Lee)
Thailand’s floods may be receding, but in their wake comes a huge surge in the prices of hard disk drives. The country produced 40 to 45 per cent of the world’s hard disk drives in the first half of this year and market research firm IDC estimates nearly half of this production capacity has been directly affected by the flooding. The result: Prices of hard disks in Singapore have almost tripled over the last four weeks.
Sim Lim Square retailers told Digital Life that the prices of all brands have shot through the roof. Before the floods, 1TB Hitachi drives sold for $65 each. The current price is $170. Prices of similar Seagate and Western Digital drives spiked from $80 to $180.
Mr Chen Wen Xie, manager of Fuwell at Sim Lim Square, said prices of hard disks had risen every week in tandem with the rising floods. “It was 10 per cent in the first week, then 30 per cent in the second, and now it has just exploded,” he said.
He and his fellow retailers have been hit hard by the impact of the floods and they expect sales to slow down in the run-up to Sitex 2011.
This year’s Sitex, one of four major annual consumer tech fairs here, opens tomorrow.
“We usually see a slowdown in sales of about 20 per cent just before a tech fair, but with the hard disk prices up, we are seeing a drop in sales of almost 40 per cent of DIY PCs,” he added.
As would-be buyers are taking a wait-and-see stance, there is still enough stock even though there is a supply crunch, said Mr Michael Tan of Convergent Systems, which distributes Hitachi hard disks here.
However, laptop vendors cannot wait. An executive from one of the top PC brands here told Digital Life that some have told distributors and retailers to brace themselves for price increases in the coming months.
The executive said the laptop deals at Sitex will also be affected, but not very significantly.
“It would be difficult to get the usual crazy price cuts at this show and consumers should also expect fewer freebies than before,” he said.
Hard disk prices may still soar for several months. IDC predicts that the shortages will continue well into the first quarter of next year.
Mr Bryan Ma, IDC Asia-Pacific’s associate vice-president of client devices research, said: “Larger PC vendors which can get their hands on hard disk supplies could have an opportunity to gain more market share in the process.”