The May Monthly Economic Report Charts the Decline of Industry in EVE Online

It is once again time for the EVE Online Monthly Economic Report, this time for May 2021.

EVE Online nerds harder

Production

The April MER showed a big spike in production in the lead up to the industry changes that affected battleship and capital ship production, after which production fell off just as much.  The downward trend in production carried on into May as expected.

May 2021 – Production vs Destruction vs Mined

While the chart only goes back as far as 2019, going back to older versions of the chart, that 2019 dip was pretty much the lowest point for a long stretch (and roughly corresponded to the Blackout), so the fact that we’ve now dipped below that seems significant.

Of course, what has really happened is that producers created a bunch of inventory while it was cheap to do so and have had no incentive to build any more battleships or capitals because the market price for hulls is still well below the new cost to produce.  And given how reluctant players are now to risk capitals, that doesn’t seem likely to change in the near future.

Overall the MER totaled up production for May as 115.44 trillion ISK in value, down from 168.4 trillion ISK in value in April.  The top producing regions were:

1. The Forge – 20.87 trillion
2. Delve – 12.88 trillion
3. Lonetrek – 8.45 trillion
4. The Citadel – 7.67 trillion
5. Sinq Laison – 5.15 trillion
6. Vale of the Silent – 5.13 trillion
7. Fade – 4.4 trillion
8. Domain – 4.02 trillion
9. Malpais – 3.78 trillion
10. The Kalevala Expanse – 3.69 trillion

As usual, The Forge and nearby regions, which serve the Jita market, remain very active, though all of the regions in the top ten were down in May.

Mining

I speculated that part of the ongoing rise in mineral prices last month was related to the rush to produce as many hulls as possible before the industry changes hit.  And there it is on the May chart, the first significant decline in mineral prices, coinciding with the industry changes.

May 2021 – Economic Indices

Hey, supply and demand works in New Eden!  The other indices are still garbage, anchored on things they shouldn’t be, but minerals are finally coming down.

As you can see from the long term chart, mineral prices are still at record highs, thanks in large part to the ongoing mineral starvation plan that CCP has running.

May 2021 – Economic Indices – Long Term

Mineral prices going down might at least mean that hulls not impacted by the industry changes, T1 frigate through battlecruisers and their T2 upgrades, might ease off in price over time.

As for where mining happened, here are the top ten regions for May:

1. Vale of the Silent – 2.43 trillion
2. The Forge – 1.63 trillion
3. Metropolis – 1.49 trillion
4. Domain – 1.43 trillion
5. Sinq Laison – 1.15 trillion
6. Lonetrek – 1.03 trillion
7. Everyshore – 907 billion
8. Genesis – 789 billion
9. Heimatar – 726 billion
10. Kador – 723 billion

A total 31.35 trillion in ISK value was mined in May, up from 27 trillion in April.  Mining remains primarily a high sec vocation, with the exception of Vale of the Silent, the null sec region run by Fraternity.

Trade

Trade was also down in May, there no doubt being a relationship with reduced mineral demand.  The total ISK value of trade in May was 598 trillion, down from 626 trillion in April, with the top regions as:

The Forge – 422.69 trillion (Jita)
Domain – 53.83 trillion (Amarr)
Sinq Laison – 18.45 trillion (Dodixie)
Delve – 15.73 trillion (Imperium/PAPI)
Lonetrek – 15.03 trillion (Caldari high sec)
Metropolis – 10.53 trillion (Hek)
Heimatar – 9.12 trillion (Rens)
The Citadel – 5.48 trillion (Caldari high sec)
Vale of the Silent – 4.33 trillion (Fraternity null sec)
Essence – 4.28 trillion (Gallente High Sec)

Those are pretty much the same ten regions we see every month at this point, though sometimes the order changes at the bottom now and again.

ISK Faucets

Commodities remain the dominate ISK faucet still, topping the chart again for May.

May 2021 – Faucet end of the chart big chart

Broken out as the over time chart:

May 2021 – Top Sinks and Faucets Over Time

And then commodities broken out:

May 2021 – Top Commodity Items Over Time

As usual, the Sleeper items from WH space top the chart, though there was a burst of Sansha incursion activity in there.

Meanwhile, the old faucet king, NPC bounties, topped out in these ten regions:

1. Vale of the Silent – 2.16 trillion (PandaFam)
2. The Kalevala Expanse – 1.19 trillion (PandaFam)
3. Lonetrek – 1.06 trillion (Caldari High Sec)
4. Querious – 1.02 trillion (Legacy)
5. Insmother – 1.02 trillion (FI.RE)
6. Tenal – 1.02 trillion (PandaFam)
7. Tribute – 977 billion (PandaFam)
8. Oasa – 955 billion (PandaFam)
9. Metropolis – 928 billion (Gallente High Sec)
10. Malpais – 924 billion (PandaFam)

PandaFam is clearly using the war in Delve to fill up their coffers in the northeast of null sec, far from the fighting.  Interesting as well is that there are now two high sec regions on the list, an indication of how much bounties have been tapered off in null sec.

Destruction

Finally, there is still a war on, and Delve remains the focus even in the lull, so it tops the region list again.

1. Delve – 3.39 trillion
2. Lonetrek – 1.78 trillion
3. The Forge 1.77 trillion
4. The Citadel – 1.56 trillion
5. Sinq Laison – 1.4 trillion
6. Querious – 1.22 trillion
7. Metropolis – 1.13 trillion
8. Vale of the Silent – 1.05 trillion
9. Pure Blind 894 billion
10. Tribute – 741 billion

The damage in Delve was almost exactly what is rang up in April, though I suspect that we will see that number taper off when we get the June MER next month.  The siege of 1DQ has slowed down.

Total destruction was 32.73 trillion ISK in value, down some from April’s 35.12 trillion ISK number.

So it goes.

As usual, all the charts and source data are available for download from the May MER dev blog.