The computer sector witnessed an increase in the prices of its products due to the shortage of the US dollar and its high exchange rate, as well as the recently imposed restrictions on the import of some non-essential products. According to some workers in the computer sector, some products’ prices have increased by 60%, while the demand on computer products has declined by 50%.
Maged Farouk, CEO of a computer company operating in local market, said that the shortage of the US dollar and its high exchange rate contributed to price hikes ranging between 30-40%. He pointed out that computer products are no longer a luxury, as they have become essential for families and businesses, so we should not drop the import of computer products.
Farouk added that his company’s import rates declined during the last nine months, due to the high cost of importing, which led to increasing prices that in turn negatively affected demand, which declined by nearly 50%.
Sabry McCain, head of the sales and marketing sector in Technology Park Company (TPC)—Polaroid Corporation’s agent in Egypt, said that the prices of Polaroid’s TVs, phones, and tablets increased by 50-60% at the beginning of this year, due to the high US dollar exchange rate on the unofficial market.
He added that the restrictions imposed by banks on import, as well as limiting the cap on maximum deposits in foreign currency in banks, led to a significant decline in the volume of imports per month.
Osama Fawaz, the director of Integrated Technology Group (ITG), upheld this opinion, adding that import rates have fallen significantly during the last period due to the shortage of the US dollar, as well as the restrictions imposed on non-essential goods.
Fawaz said that computer prices have witnessed a significant climb during the last six months, despite the decline in rates of demand and the purchasing power of a large segment of consumers. He pointed out that the decline in sales of computer products came as a result of the high prices of electronics and commodities, in addition to the decline in the purchasing power of the Egyptian consumer.
It should be noted that PC shipments worldwide witnessed a remarkable decline over the last five years, as the global estimates reached 343m units in 2012, while they recorded 232m units in 2016.
With regards to revenues, the global market contracts of PCs have fallen from $219bn in 2012, to $122bn in 2016.
The world vendors Dell, HP, and Lenovo acquired the largest market shares in the first quarter of 2016, but they recorded a decline on an annual basis.
However, high-performance laptop sales reached its apogee through achieving a significant growth in revenues this year. The global expectations referred that this sector will achieve sales of $6.34bn, with an increase of 16% compared to 2015. Gartner Institution predicts that high-performance laptops will acquire the largest revenues in the PC market in 2019, estimated at $6.57bn.
