🚀 go-pugleaf

25>After talking with a PC vendor today who told me that the prices
25>quoted to them for RAM had significantly increased in the last two
25>days, I called two companies who advertise in PC Sources.  In both
25>cases the prices quoted on the telephone for 4 meg SIMMs were
25>much higher than the prices printed in the issue that I received
25>today ($40 higher for the first company, $60 higher for the second).

25>The PC vendor says this has something to do with a legal agreement
25>that prevents Korean chip makers from dumping RAM in the American
25>market.

25>Does anyone have first-hand knowledge of the events?  Is this a
25>temporary price hike, or are we looking at a new price level for
25>memory chips.

Quoted from another message (and have read a fax before):

    It's a reaction to the preliminary ruling by the U.S
Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA)
that Korean DRAM manufacturers are dumping their product in the
USA. The ITA estimated dumping margins are 52.41% for Goldstar,
5.99% for Hyudai, 87.4% on Samsung, and 61.88% on others. The ITA
is expected to make a final ruling in March, 1993, after which the
independent U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has 45 days
to determine whether the dumping has hurt the U.S. DRAM industry.
If the determination is affirmative, then U.S. customs would begin
collecting import duties on all Korean 1 meg or larger DRAMs.

    Since no duties are currently being collected, the question
that should be answered is what's the cause of the current price
increase. Has the Korean manufacturers increased their prices or
are US distribution channels taking advantage of the situation
by increasing their prices?

    By the way, this process all began when Micron Technology filed
a dumping complaint with the ITC earlier this year.  The ITC felt
that the complaint had merit, which allowed the ITA to investigate
the situation.

Wilfred Wong
The Cutting Edge BBS  Houston, Texas, USA.
InterNet: wilfred.wong@cutting.hou.tx.us

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