( Continuedfrom page 37) on user's preferences, production and transportation costs can be entered directly, or they can be estimated by the program from user-specified cost components (the 'help with' options). Average West Virginia prices for various trout products are provided in a drop-down menu. For example, consider a farmer who is planning to ship 45 kg for stocking a pond located 20 km away for the sale price of US$3/kg. His costs of growing the fish equals US$2/kg and transportation costs are US$ l .6/km. His sale returns can be found as the difference between sale price and production costs multiplied by shipment weight. One also needs to subtract total transportation costs from this value. In our example, returns are US$3/kg - US$2/kg * 45 kg - US$1.6/km * 20 km = US$13. Although the return is positive, it is very small. Note, that if the farmer does not account for the transportation cost, he would over-estimate the returns from the shipment by US$32. The user can also infer potential returns by estimating maximum roundtrip distance and comparing it with the actual distance to market. Maximum roundtrip distance is estimated from per kilometer transportation costs, shipment volume, price, and production cost. As distance to the market increases, so does the transportation cost. Maximum roundtrip distance is the distance for which transportation cost equals the difference between total revenue and the production cost for the shipment. The user can enter production and transportation costs directly, or use software help and estimate them step by step. The user can also use a drop-down menu to get an estimate of sale price for common trout products. For example, a farmer selling to a processing plant may expect to get a sale price of about US$3/ kg. If total weight of the shipment is 45 kg, production costs are US$2/kg, transportation costs are US$1.6/km, then the maximum roundtrip distance is (US$3/kg - US$2/kg) * (45 kg) / (US$ 1.6/km) = 28 km. That is, it is not worth completing orders for markets located farther than 28 km away. U.S. and Canada program users can check This 1preodshett is pro,'ilkd to auist in tslillwina iilh pr�ws co1u. Co�is or� into 111'0 uieaorie1: dircet 111d indirect cosu. Dm:£CT STS - - - - - - Pie e eitter your \'lluO inltead oflhe dc1lulltl - fJ X ;iNci Cosu , -\\,:;lhe volume of;oduaion. ond it.'�dq is produced lhtll direct cosu are zero. � costs ill� the con ofto,,fish, lobot, ptoc.sstn1 1no1erlol ond<>/Jlc n,ppltu. They ore eslimated in tl!OIIS ofdollor per polllld. -- -.£rt! 1eld(4l),-- EnterRawFishCott ($!lb)� _____h•...:. lp_wi_lh_raw_u_h �pr_od_uc�o_n co_•t_ __- -'.' Evtluar.Co11olProcuttdProduct(S ) IrEiuer Houri ot'bib¢r pt," 1000 lb ot'Raw :F'wi PrO(eued (In) r- - - - TuterWaaesp;Ho-;;(Sihour)rEv1lu1tt Labor Cott Of Procttttd Product (S/lb) �!....------------------ ,- t i EnterPrO(essitJa M111trial 111d Other Cons (Slb) rEvaluatt To�I Oirtct Cottt (9/lb) IrFig. 7. Estimation of Processing Costs. ESTIMATION OF TRANSPORTATION COSTS Com ere split into two c111egories: direct costs 111d o\mersbip com. Pl=c enter \'llucs into die blank cells. FirSt, you need to eslilluue every cost itemsepara.tely, and onlythen click lhe bunon III the end ofthe page to get total transportation costs. DIRECT COSTS Dirtct Cosu depend on trip mileage. They include gasoline costs, driver's wage, and waintenance com. Enter Gasoline Price (S galloo), Enter Truck Ellicicncy (miles galloo)r--- ____F_in-d-ga-,o-line-coats (Slmlfe) jr==J Enter Dm·er's Wage (Sbr), Enter A\·erage Dri\"ing SP"ed (milcsbr),- Find Labor Costs (S/mlle) !r==J Maintenace Costs: Oil Cltange •.. •.C-A"t r-,,. ._ _ _ �.•.,• • _1,_ ___ ,r-- Fig. 8. Estimation of Transportation Costs. - fJ X .!. if certain markets are located within the specified distance by using various web-sites designed for estimation of driving distances, such as http://maps. yahoo.com, http://www.mapquest. com, or http://maps.google.com. The links to specified sites are included in the Fish Transportation Calculator. Finally, the minimum acceptable sale price is computed as the sum of production and transportation costs. The user is asked to enter production costs, transportation costs, roundtrip distance for the trip, shipment weight, driver's lodging and meal costs, parking, toll and other expenses. Minimum price is calculated when a user clicks on the 'find minimum price' button at the bottom of the page. For example, for production costs of US$2/kg, transportation costs of US$1.6/km, ( Continued on page 70) WORLD AQUACULTURE 39
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