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By Manoj Nair
GN Online
Dubai
http://www.gulf-news.com/
Tuesday, May. 20, 2003

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Iraq could take as many as one million PCs in the first 12 months of the full lifting of sanctions with around 50 to 70 per cent of demand met from Dubai, Kuwait and Jordan.

Initially, most of the buying will be done by the Iraqi government departments and related institutions, with very little demand from the consumer and businesses there, said market sources.

"Iraq will require one million PCs in the first full sanctions-free year, including 450,000 units in the first three months of opening up itself. This will then drop to around 800,000 PC units in the second year," said Steve Lockie, regional managing director of Tech Data, the IT distribution house.

"There was a feeling that Dubai would be bypassed in the reconstruction needs of Iraq.

That is certainly not the case, and Dubai will be as active as the Jordanian or Kuwaiti trader.

"Tech Data has identified five to ten prospective partners in Iraq who could help us when the sanctions are removed and orders start coming through."

Already, Jordan is bringing about changes in its laws to allow the genuine Iraqi business groups to operate in that market.

There is also a feeling that Dubai's IT trade might be called in to meet the excess demand requirements of the Jordanian and Kuwait market.

If the sanctions were to be lifted by July/August, as is expected, Iraqi orders hitting the market will mostly be for the branded PCs. It will take a further three to six months for the assembled PC market operators to start making an impact.

For Dubai's IT trade, there was good news last month. After a marked slowdown during the time of the conflict, there was a surge in new orders being placed., though none were from Iraq.

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Direct Link:
--http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=88134

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