[Harp-L] RE: Hohner USA response (Frank Evers)

["geoff atkins" <geoffatkins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Frank said in his reply:  > I noticed you ignored 3. while commenting 4.?
The original point 3 was:

> 3.       We held off on a price increase as long as possible, but
> increased raw material costs and an unfavorable exchange rate with the
> Euro - which increased our costs -- required this decision.

[GA] I had selected only some points, I omitted 3 because I felt I couldn't
comment on the costs of materials (bought in Germany with a buoyant Euro
they could even be cheaper?- but that's just conjecture). I know nothing
about Hohner's expectations from USA sales, but presumably a relatively
stronger Euro could cause pressure on dollar income /euro receipts, and thus
a price adjustment... so I didn't comment.

Doing some homework:
KHS Musical Instruments of Taiwan (Hsieh family) own the majority of shares
in Hohner, so maybe the exchange rate disparity had another leg, the Taiwan
dollar has strengthened from 32.8 six months ago to 31.9 against the USD.
In contrast, the Euro/dollar exchange is back to where it was six months
ago, around 1.42 USD/Euro, though there were weak spots 2-3 months ago when
the USD was around 1.49 (=33.8%). 

(Harp content) most all of my harps are Hohners, though that is changing to
another brand from the East.
MFG
Geoff Atkins