Government support
Published government demand buys eligible whole tonnes at its displayed support price without a finite demand quota. The infinity mark describes demand, never a payable quantity. Better or equal player bids execute first. Government purchases create finite cash and consume finite goods; they do not grant trade XP or enter player reference-price history. The explicit Government action selects support in the same sell editor. Buy prices allow the normal published range and, when outside it, only the exact support exception. For public sells, published support is the minimum permitted price, replacing the normal dynamic lower bound even when support lies below it. The upper bound is the greater of support and the normal dynamic maximum: if support exceeds that maximum, only support is permitted. Without published support the normal dynamic band applies. Support values are experimental and versioned.
How the configured support table is derived
Raw crop support is 75% of the static bootstrap price, rounded upward to whole cash per tonne: support = ceil(bootstrap × 0.75). Wheat's bootstrap 100 gives 75 cash/t; potatoes' 65 gives ceil(48.75) = 49 cash/t. This is a configuration basis, not 75% of the live player reference price.
Manufactured support uses the efficient recipe basis: value the recipe's ingredients at their own support prices, add its one-lot conversion charge including the recurring Operating surcharge in the reviewed starter profile (25 ha, one farm, four machines and one business: scale 16.5), apply a 10% margin, divide by output tonnes and round upward to whole cash/t. Where several recipes make the same product, the lowest candidate establishes support. Multi-stage products reuse the configured support of their ingredients.
At that profile and zero efficiency rating, base conversion cash 20, 30 or 40 adds one cash of surcharge. Wheat flour uses 2 t of wheat at 75 plus conversion 20 + 1: ceil((150 + 21) × 110 / 100) = 189 cash/t. Barley flour instead costs 180 + 21 = 201 against the same 189 support: a loss of 12 before capital spending.
More expensive alternate recipes are not guaranteed profitable at that support price. Company Operating Costs, capacity, research, capital spending and scheduling can also change the actual result. The public catalog gives configured base values; review current transaction terms before selling.