New Eden – For a long time the components market in new Eden was slow and bountiful, often it seemed impossible to corner as sellers were undercutting each other in massive quantities and scientists working on large scale industrial reactions were in plentiful supply.
However, in early December 109, numerous R&D; corps released their research notes on the open market, a side effect of which was the explosion of the component markets across all of New Eden as thousands of pilots competed to corner and profit from the new lines of advanced ships.
Within days of the research designs becoming available, markets across all of New Eden saw purchases of construction components double and even triple. Within a week the markets were stripped bare of all the lowest priced components and the bottom end prices had doubled and in a few cases even tripled. Archbishop of Praetoria Imperialis Excubitoris was able to elaborate on his experience with the price rises.
“It has been shocking to say the least. Massive price increases on nearly all raw materials. My slaves are well trained and build all my own components. But the raw material prices have skyrocketed. Ferrogel is over 25,000isk a unit when it used to be 9,000isk a unit. Shocking! So we've seen a massive increase in price. This has driven up the prices of many advanced star ships including the old designs like the Zealot and reduced profit margins. People don't want to pay 100M ISK for something that cost them 65M last month.”
Although these early ships off the production lines were selling for premiums, the large number of inventors competing meant soon price wars began as corporations and alliances tried to assert dominance over the market share.
But with components getting more expensive, decryptors becoming harder to find and likewise more costly, and with ships becoming cheaper every day it became clear that the advanced star ship market was due for a major shake-up.
Numerous ship manufacturers resorted to building their own components, but this added pressure to the materials market; forcing those prices up in turn as the owners of moon facilities and industrial reactors saw a chance to increase profit margins as demand outstripped supply.
In the two months since the phenomenon began, the market has slowly begun to settle again as production of materials and components has increased and numerous would be producers have been forced out of the market due to low profit versus costs. But even in market hubs like the infamous Jita, prices are a long way off what they were once before the latest technology advent. But it is early days yet, and as the market develops we will see how changes ultimately affect prices, costs and availability.
Archbishop had clear opinions of how the market would change in the coming months; “I see prices declining slightly as more people build these ships. So I do predict an adjustment. Also more people who have tried invention won't have the slave staff to keep it up and will leave the field. So a few who are prepared for the high level of work and skills will be all remains.”
Kaede Nakamura form Vortex Industries had slightly different opinions of how the future looked and whether rising costs would make production prohibitive; “No, the prices will rise to a point where there is profit. Prices have already fallen from their last high; check fermionic condensates. But there is an isk inflation in New Eden, I don’t expect these prices to drop to the point where they were 3 months ago.”
It is clear that the advanced technology market is rapidly growing and this is forcing costs to rise, but from the evidence and the opinions of producers, it seems the worst rises have come and gone but it is still unclear as to when and where the market will finally settle.