It's a wonderful lens, so of course it will be discontinued.
I would guess that a number of years ago Pentax manufactured a bunch of these, and have been selling them ever since.
Pentax is retrenching in their traditional offerings. Good lenses, as I suggested earlier today, are going away, or are at least not so easy to get. They have apparently slashed their manufacturing capacity. Lenses are no longer stocked, but shipped from the Philippines in only enough quantity to fill orders.
It's a new econonic world in photography.
Joe
