The May MER and Mineral Starvation in New Eden

CCP released the Monthly Economic Report for May 2020 so we can see how the mineral starvation plan has progressed.

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With CCP’s mineral starvation measures all in place for two months now we can see if we’re getting anywhere close to a new normal.  Mineral prices continued to rise.

May 2020 – Economic Indices

The slope of the price climb for ore and minerals isn’t as steep as it has been for the last few months, but it continues to go up.  We are still short of the all time mineral index high, which occurred back in 2012 with the Escalation expansion, when CCP changed the drones in the drone regions to have bounties rather than dropping minerals.

May 2020 – Economic Indices – All Time

However, with a war brewing in null sec, prices might see a boost based on demand alone.

The Primary Producers Price Index (PPPI) did not rise as sharply.  Though ore and minerals make up part of that index, so does Planetary Interaction materials, and the market for that has been flooded lately as it turns out Upwell structures provide those when salvaged, and a whole bunch of Upwell structures have died since CCP introduced the “abandoned” state with the Forsaken Fortress update and turned them into a loot pinata free for all.  So that probably help keep the PPPI from rising.

The Secondary Producers Price Index (SPPI) though, that is made up largely of PI items, and you can see that it just kept on falling.  Hope you weren’t trying to make some money on PI the way I was.

And the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is made up of finished goods, remained flat.  Again, we shall see if war has any impact on that.

As for where mining is happening, the top ten regions for May were:

1. Delve – 1.78 trillion  (Imperium)
2. Domain – 1.44 trillion (High Sec)
3. The Forge – 1.39 trillion (High Sec)
4. Sinq Laison – 1.34 trillion (High Sec)
5. Lonetrek – 1.13 trillion (High Sec)
6. Oasa – 1.07 trillion (PandaFam)
7. Metropolis – 919 billion (High Sec)
8. Fountain – 864 billion (Imperium)
9. Malpais – 857 billion (PandaFam)
10. Perrigen Falls – 832 billion (PandaFam)

I decided to just mark each region with its owner.  PandaFam is the name coined by Jin’taan to cover the coalition that includes Pandemic Horde, Pandemic Legion, NCDot, and Fraternity as its major players.

There was 29.54 trillion ISK mined all told in May, down from 31.58 trillion mined in April.  This probably means less was mined in May as the price, on which these numbers pivot, were up.  Last month the top ten was:

1. Delve – 1.81 trillion (Imperium)
2. Domain – 1.64 trillion (High Sec)
3. The Forge – 1.59 trillion (High Sec)
4. Oasa – 1.35 trillion (PandaFam)
5. Sinq Laison – 1.34 trillion (High Sec)
6. Lonetrek – 1.15 trillion (High Sec)
7. Fountain – 911 billion (Imperium)
8. Metropolis – 888 billion (High Sec)
9. Genesis – 878 billion (High Sec)
10. Tash-Murkon – 869 billion (High Sec)

Null sec has upped its game somewhat since May, or at least PandaFam has.  They must be planning for a war or something.

And then there is the bounties front.

May 2020 – Top Sinks and Faucets Over Time

We saw a dip in bounties when the Surgical Strike update hit the game and nerfed damage resistance modules.  That looks to have bounced back once people adjusted their fits.  It is still down from where it was earlier this year though.

A total of 47 trillion ISK in bounties was paid out, with the top ten regions being:

1. Oasa – 4.06 trillion (PandaFam)
2. Delve – 3.75 trillion (Imperium)
3. Cobalt Edge – 2.92 trillion (PandaFam)
4. Fountain – 2.71 trillion (Imperium)
5. Perrigen Falls – 2.69 trillion (PandaFam)
6. Branch – 1.88 trillion (PandaFam)
7. The Kalevala Expanse – 1.73 trillion (PandaFam)
8. Esoteria – 1.66 trillion (Legacy)
9. Feythabolis – 1.59 trillion (Legacy)
10. Insmother – 1.58 trillion (Legacy)

The big three null sec blocs did most of the ratting, with Oasa topping the list.  Last month Delve was at the top:

1. Delve – 5.79 trillion (Imperium)
2. Oasa – 4.47 trillion (PandaFam)
3. Perrigen Falls – 3.02 trillion (PandaFam)
4. Fountain – 2.54 trillion (Imperium)
5. Cobalt Edge – 2.50 trillion (PandaFam)
6. Branch – 1.91 trillion (PandaFam)
7. Esoteria – 1.90 trillion (Legacy)
8. Omist – 1.87 trillion (Legacy)
9. Tenal – 1.62 trillion (PandaFam)
10. Malpais – 1.58 trillion (PandaFam)

There was a general order against super carrier ratting in Delve when the Surgical Strikes update hit, and that remains in place.

So it goes.

Next month, when we seen the June MER, we will get a glimpse of post-change stability again, plus a look at the economy before the big war starts on July 5.  We will have to wait until August to see what impact that really has, though the focus on ADMs in the Imperium might see bounties jump some all the same.

In addition to the MER, CCP put out a look at the Q1 2020 New Eden economy, which covers what is important to their point of view, including things not covered by the MER, like the PLEX price trend.  CCP seems to be happy that the price is going down for PLEX, though that also means people buying PLEX to get ISK are getting less for their real world cash.  I suppose there is a happy medium in there.

Anyway, the MER and all of the data is available at the usual location.