The Problem With Food Raw Materials

Day 2,688, 18:32 Published in Netherlands USA by Actinide

Friends, Dutch, countrymen, lend me your ears!

I am a rather young citizen (only level 23). I have only just been introduced to the economic module of eRepublik (including WAM). However, I have made a realization about food that I think should be made known to the general public.

All of the following are “other things considered equal”. This means:

You’re using a Q1 food factory and (where grain farms are used) 3 grain farms.
Market prices as described below remain constant.
There are no production bonuses (although this would only change any of these points if the eNL owned three or more regions with food production bonuses).

1 At current prices, selling raw materials on the market is a foolish idea indeed.

To sell food raw materials competitively on the open market right now, one must set their price at .02 guilders. To make 35 food raw materials costs 1.06 guilders in work taxes. 1.06/35 ~= .03. Do the math. You have 33% losses from producing raw materials and selling them on the market.

2 One can make a profit from food produced using raw materials created with WAM.

Let’s say you have three grain farms and a Q1 food factory. You’d produce 105 food raw materials. You’d use 100 of those to make food and have 5 left. This entire process costs you 4.24 guilders in work taxes. On the open market, Q1 food is going for .05 guilders. So, using food raw materials values from the previous point, one can draw the conclusion that they would make (5 guilders from food + .1 guilder from raw materials - 4.24 in work taxes = ) .86 guilders per day. A profit is made.


3 Raw materials are cheaper to buy than make.

This is self-evident: .02 is less than .03; therefore, raw materials are cheaper to buy than make.

4 One can make a larger profit off of food if they buy their raw materials.

Let’s do the math: 100 raw materials costs 2 guilders. 5 guilders from food - 2 guilders from Raw Materials - 1.06 work tax = 1.94 guilders. You more than double your profits! All from buying your raw materials instead of making them.


~Actinide~

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