the excuse I've heard is that production is just starting to ramp up again after they've run down all the excess stock they've been sitting on while the economy has been down.
Bollocks!!! This is a discussion my techie/PC store owner have had over the last couple of months or so... we have watched prices rising on a weekly, sometimes daily basis on the exact same (old) stock. The suppliers (in Oz) are NOT getting daily shipments, yet prices are rising on old stock as though were newly arrived. It seems to me/us, that they are watching prices on newly manufactured/released RAM and adjusting their 'old stock' prices accordingly.
In fact, on one day, the price went up twice. In the morning the price on 2x2gb Corsair DDR2 800 was $79.95.... that afternoon (Pat checked again to fill a new order) it was $97.00 AUD, a clear $52.00 up on what I'd paid just 2 weeks earlier, and on RAM probably from the same batch/shipment.
Here's the killer, though! That very same RAM from Pat via his suppliers (while it can be found cheaper through some internet sellers) is now $149.95... almost 300% up on what I paid 4 - 5 months ago. Somebody is profiteering on old stock... and, after watching him do the wholesale/retail math, I know it's not Pat!