Fig. 2. Production losses change over time and the effect of higher-order losses is significant.

(A) Decomposition of total production loss. Total production losses are composed of first- and higher-order losses that both increase over the simulation period (1991–2011). (B) Role of storage for loss propagation. Higher-order production losses vary with storage size (given in days of input volume; here, 3 to 15 days), but larger storage capacities can reduce higher-order production losses only to a certain extent. They saturate when above a storage size of about 10 days’ worth of total input is reached. (C) Ratio of higher- to first-order production loss. Higher-order production losses are about 12 to 20% of first-order losses for storage capacities of 15 days.