Food Market Dynamics - Getting That Bread

Day 4,388, 00:30 • Published in USA USA • by RATAJKOWSKl

Food is the fuel of eRepublik’s military module. It is the common denominator between ground soldiers and air fighters. You cannot fight without consuming Food and without fighting you will not be able to partake in most of the game’s functions. Therefore it isn’t surprising that Food today is a multi-million CC a day industry serving as a hotbed for speculators looking to make a fortune from exploiting market inefficiencies. Today we’ll have a quick look at the recent dynamics of the Food market.


Food prices are generally stable for most of the year. Food production is possible in most of the large countries and in a plethora of regions therefore geopolitical developments rarely impact supply. Employing workers is never profitable in food companies but Working as Manager always is. The result of these factors is that food supply is mostly stable throughout the year.

On the demand side, food usage is almost solely dictated by the number of active players and their Energy Recovery. The former has been steady for a while now and the latter is also generally stable since people usually progress similarly through the Weekly Challenge week on week. The stability of both supply and demand gives rise to stable price levels throughout most of the year.


A bread line on the streets of Kentucky, Day 4383


A major factor impacting the above-mentioned variables are events/promotions such as the annual event celebrating eRepublik’s Birthday which historically always offers a large increase in Energy Recovery. This anticipation of increased Recovery and therefore increased Food demand had more than doubled Food prices in the month and a half leading up to the event. The first wave of buying occurred around the 5th of November when prices sharply increased by ~66%. They continued to rally up until the start of the event where they peaked at ~0.4 CC / Energy. Given the size and efficiency of the food market, these increases were undoubtedly driven by large speculators looking to secure multiple months of packs worth of CC with a few clicks.


Q1 Food prices over the last 90 days, courtesy of the great erepublik.tools


Somewhat surprisingly since the announcement of the Birthday event Food prices have been plummeting. While at first glance the event heavily differed from the guaranteed, no questions asked +120 Recovery for 12 days that people were expecting, on second look it actually provides an easily attainable +132 (11 locations each giving +12) Recovery for 12 days. Despite the event being seemingly more favorable for Recovery, its announcement resulted in market panic, with massive stocks of food being put on the market for continually decreasing prices (see chart).
Looking at the globally available best prices in small Q Food it is apparent that many large speculators with large Food inventories are rushing to exit their Food position as soon as possible.

Cheapest Food available globally for different Qs (at the time of writing)





All data courtesy of erepublik.tools


The different indications given by the event being generous with Recovery and the massive Food stocks hitting the shelves raises the question as to where Food prices might head next.