Hard Drive Prices to Remain Inflated Throughout 2012
In Q4 2011, HDD shipments dropped by 26 percent over the same period in the previous year. Shipments will by 13 percent in Q1 and 5 percent in Q2 on an annual basis, IHS believes. In Q3, the market will stabilize and grow by 2 percent and bounce back with 49 percent in the fourth quarter of this year. Sequentially, HDD shipments are predicted to climb 14 percent in Q1, 11 percent in Q3 and 4 percent in Q4.
“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." The shortage will translate to continued inflated prices throughout 2012, the firm said.
HDD makers and component suppliers have resumed only partial production in Thailand and have shifted some of their manufacturing to other countries to alleviate the impact of the supply shortage. According to IHS, Western Digital has been the HDD manufacturer most impacted by the floods and is not expected to return to full production until September.
IHS said that the Thailand flood has caused the global average selling price (ASP) for HDDs to jump by 28 percent in Q4 2011. Prices are forecast to decline by 3 percent in Q1 and by 9 percent in Q2. “Prices will remain high for a number of reasons, including the higher costs associated with the relocation of production, as well as higher component costs because of flooding impacts among component makers,” Zhang said. “Furthermore, PC brands have signed annual contacts with HDD makers that have locked them into elevated pricing deals for the rest of the year.”

"Is the labor cheap?"
"Check."
"Are business regulations at minimum?"
"Check."
"Are the taxes low?"
"Check."
"Is the flood control sufficient since we're building in a flood-prone area?"
"Well, not really, but our workers can put up sandbag barriers, so check."
???
looks like retailers will milk this unfortunate situation longer.
Well not when the flood prices hit at first, a 2TB drive instantly went up by like 100%+
Now I can find 2TB HDD's for $130 which is a lot better than $200.
Which reminds me I'm out of drive bays.. DAMN IT!
Looks like I'll be investing in NAS or upgrading my mix of 1-2TB drives all to 4TB.
Don't forget price fixing.
Retailers don't have the power to influence the prices. If they price their merchandise too high, customers are going to buy somewhere else.
If anyone has the power to influence prices, it's the manufacturers themselves, but even they are in fierce competition.
so WD Seagate Samsung Hitachi all raised there prices to match
No with more floods coming in Thailand hard disk manufacturers managers will keep their fraud-the-whole-world plan going strong with no fear of getting jailed as it should happen.
(Example for SpinPoint F3 1TB in my country.)
At least from my perspective it will.