Second-tier manufacturers of blank optical discs in Taiwan, seeing top makers successfully raising OEM prices by 10%-15% for this quarter, would also like to do the same, but so far have only been able to raise prices 3%-5% due to immediate financial needs and therefore have had to accept low-price orders to bring in revenues quickly, according to industry sources and DigiTimes.com. Second-tier makers of optical discs have suffered from cash shortages since February this year because of continued drops in OEM prices and increases in polycarbonate (PC) costs, the industry sources indicated.

For CD-R discs, second-tier makers’ quotations stand at US$0.09-0.1 currently, lower than the lowest level of US$0.12 quoted by top makers, the industry sources noted. For DVD+R/-R discs, second-tier makers quote US$0.15 for 4x discs and US$0.18-0.2 for 8x discs.