Price of polycarbonate used in optical discs falls in 4Q07, says paper

The international price of optical-grade polycarbonate, a material used in the substrate of optical discs, has dropped by 5.7% from US$2.65/kg in the third quarter of 2007 to US$2.50/kg in the fourth quarter, according to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) newspaper.

The price fall of optical-grade polycarbonate is in contrast to continued hikes in the price of crude oil because optical-grade polycarbonate producers expanded production during the previous two years but the decline in global demand for blank CD-R discs has resulted in an oversupply of the material, the EDN pointed out.