Hello folks I’m doing a VOC representative for Model UN and I’m not sure where to find information on this. In 1602 the VOC raised 6.5 million guilders in capital and then used that initial money to fund mercantile expeditions but how much did those cost? How much did a merchant ship at the time cost, and how much did a voyage cost in general? How much did the Dutch pay to colonise areas or to lease ports? What sort of goods did they buy in Europe for trading and how much did they spend on them? And what else did they spend their money on? Thanks all
Finding exact numbers like the ones you are asking for is going to be difficult, but I was able to come up with some interesting data regarding the expenses of the VOC.
From 1660 onwards, the VOC began to see an increase in competition from the British East India Company. The EIC enjoyed explosive growth, increasing English trade "seven times in volume" between 1725 and 1760 (Sgourev and van Lent, 936). This competition forced the VOC to constantly invest and diversify into new markets, such as coffee, tea, porcelain, and textiles (before this, the trade has primarily been in spices). As a result of this increase in competition, the VOC entered a period of "profitless growth." According to a source, the VOC had to work "twice as hard" in 1720 to earn the same amount of profit as they had in 1660. Specifically, the VOC began to succumb under "high fixed costs, narrowing profit margins, and high dividends" (Sgourev and van Lent, 937).
Apparently, the VOC was constantly having to invest into the efficiency of its shipping operations in order to remain competitive, which hurt its profit margins. It was not until the mid-eighteenth century that the VOC was able to ship directly from Asia to Europe (without stopping in Batavia), which meant that it was unable to deliver fresh goods. Labor productivity was low due to inexperience, poor pay, and mortality. Only one in three sailors who left Dutch ports survived a trip to Asia, further increasing labor costs.
Some hard numbers: The total capital stock of the VOC was 1.7 million guilders in 1620 (Sgourev and van Lent, 937) and by 1780 it was 62 million guilders. By the end of its life in the 1790s, the VOC was as large in volume as all the other European trading companies combined (Sgourev and van Lent, 937).
I hope some of this helped.
Sources consulted:
Sgourev, Stoyan V, and Wim van Lent. “When Too Many Are Not Enough: Human Resource Slack and Performance at the Dutch East India Company (1700–1795).” Human Relations 70, no. 11 (November 2017): 1293–1315. doi:10.1177/0018726717691340.
Sgourev, Stoyan V., and Wim Van Lent. "Balancing Permission and Prohibition: Private Trade and Adaptation at the VOC." Social Forces 93, no. 3 (2015): 933-55. Accessed February 12, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/24754209.