Best profit for exporting manufactured goods made from imported materials?

[Spaznetz]

Just as a discussion topic, what have you found that gives the largest profit margin between import cost of raw materials and export price of goods produced?

[Akira43]

I think it has been generally established that import fabric / export clothes (especially USD $) has the best profit margin ratio.

Keep in mind the import transport costs though. These depend on where you import to on the map and can easily eat a good chunk of your profits.

[Spaznetz]

Originally posted by Akira43:

I think it has been generally established that import fabric / export clothes (especially USD $) has the best profit margin ratio.

Keep in mind the import transport costs though. These depend on where you import to on the map and can easily eat a good chunk of your profits.

Another factor to keep in mind - Location.

Does the exchange rate between rubles and dollars play much of a factor? Would it be best to find a good spot in a corner of the map so that you can import materials with one currency and export goods in the other?

[Midas]

You can build a warehouse near the border. Than use a train to export clothes, stop at the border warehouse grab textiles, go back to the factorycomplex and unload. So you can save some transport fee costs

[ryantheskinny]

Originally posted by Midas:

You can build a warehouse near the border. Than use a train to export clothes, stop at the border warehouse grab textiles, go back to the factorycomplex and unload. So you can save some transport fee costs

Everytime I start a game, I set up an import/export site near the border. However I never thought about that. Usually always setup my vehicles to do one task.

[DeltaDude]

Originally posted by Akira43:

I think it has been generally established that import fabric / export clothes (especially USD $) has the best profit margin ratio.

Keep in mind the import transport costs though. These depend on where you import to on the map and can easily eat a good chunk of your profits.

Also need to factor in the amount of labor required. Sometimes the profit margin is good on its own but sometimes you can create more bulk good per worker that can factor in higher profits too. Hard to calculate these things though. Clothing works well due to how value dense the goods are, you don't need huge train networks to transport it, just a few trucks will do.

Really good for creating cities skylines zoned industry basically on an import/export manufacturing economy. Of course later on you can create complete supply chains, but I like having an early-game battery based on this sort of economy to have a lifeline to experiment with more complicated infrastructure.

If you either make your own fuel, or have self-made electricity, you can also easily have trains pick stuff up at the border to eliminate transport costs of imports. If you have to buy fuel or electricity for your trains though this is less of an advantage.

[Giusseppi Cadura]

If you import coal and iron ORE, mechanical components can be really profitable.

[DeltaDude]

Originally posted by Scarpepe:

If you import coal and iron ORE, mechanical components can be really profitable.

This is a good strategy too. You can build the coal and iron processing plants first and import the ore. Then this gives the possible expansion to build rail connections to your own mines. Really, this game has so many options to it there's really no best method.

[Spaznetz]

Thanks for all the ideas!

I'm trying to be disciplined and finish up the 2 games that I told myself I HAD to finish before I could buy THIS one. But I'm watching tons of people playing on YouTube (Good and bad) and I'm just itching to try my hand at being a Commissar.

[E]

Originally posted by Scarpepe:

If you import coal and iron ORE, mechanical components can be really profitable.

I can confirm, this one seems to work well. Electronics bring a lot of profit in both currencies, you just need to have a decent transport system to support it.

[Akira43]

Originally posted by Spaznetz:

Thanks for all the ideas!

I'm trying to be disciplined and finish up the 2 games that I told myself I HAD to finish before I could buy THIS one. But I'm watching tons of people playing on YouTube (Good and bad) and I'm just itching to try my hand at being a Commissar.

It is a really good game but I think that giving it a bit more time to mature (and the Devs are definitely very active) is a good thing.

[Spaznetz]

Originally posted by Akira43:

It is a really good game but I think that giving it a bit more time to mature (and the Devs are definitely very active) is a good thing.

Good point.

I've been pretty happy with the Early Access stuff that I've played, but I've had many hours of game time get wiped out by devs making big changes. It's a part of the risk you take with Early Access, but it's no fun for sure.