Experts: Coronavirus wider expansion may disrupt IT system supplies

MOSCOW, Feb 13 (PRIME) -- The coronavirus outbreak has not impacted the IT industry much yet, but prolongation of holidays in China and further expansion of the pneumonia in spring may stop production and disrupt deliveries of IT equipment to Russia and other countries, large electronics makers told PRIME on Thursday.

“The bulk of electronics from China is delivered to Russia by sea, so in the next couple of months we’ll receive the goods mainly manufactured and dispatched before the Chinese New Year,” said Pyotr Shcheglov, deputy head for products at MyOffice.

Mobile Inform Group CEO Konstantin Mantsvetov does not expect the Russian market to be impacted much. “It’s not critical, production plans will be revised a bit. We see that virus expansion has slowed down a lot, and the Chinese authorities do really much to prevent it,” he said.

Shcheglov said that the situation could worsen and start affecting several countries from April if the facilities in Mainland China are still closed because of the virus. “It could provoke a shortage of goods,” he said.

Aerodisk CEO Vyacheslav Volodkovich said many Russian and international IT companies directly depend on Chinese electronics as some 80% of electronic components are produced in China.

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