Bangalore: Thailand flood last year has made hard disk drive (HDD) prices to increase by 20 to 30 percent more than the average pre-flood price, says an analyst firm IHS iSuppli. The report also says that the price will remain high till 2014.
Due to production disturbances at HDD suppliers and makers, the global hard drive shipment in the fourth quarter of 2011 was down by 26 percent comparing to the fourth quarter of 2010. The manufactures supplies the HDD so far this year to commence the recovery from the disastrous flood but the shipment are declining by 13 percent so far and by 5 percent in second quarter of 2012 on an annual basis.
The recovery of global HDD manufacturing has begun and will continue during each quarter of 2012, noted Fang Zhang, storage analyst for IHS. However, the recovery will be prolonged for at least two more quarters, as supply constraints keep unit shipments from climbing on an annual basis until third quarter. Meanwhile, HDD prices will remain inflated and inventories will continue to be depleted, showing that demand is exceeding supply. Supply and demand should return to balance by the end of the third quarter.
The computer HDD industries in Thailand is not likely to recover very early after floods swamped several manufacturing bases in the country where about one-fourth of the world's HDDs were made. Last year the floods in Thailand shut down more than 14,000 factories and forced at least 660,000 people out of work.
Many major HDD makers have shifted their production outside Thailand, to beat the shortage situation. The major HDD manufacturer such as Western Digital, Toshiba and Seagate are most impacted by floods and has increased the manufacturing in other countries. These big players are now concentrating on warranty cuts to cover the loss caused due to the flood.
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