A leather wholesaler supplies leather to shoe companies. The manufacturing quantity requirements of leather differ depending upon the amount of leather ordered by the shoe companies to him. Due to the volatility in orders, he is unable to precisely predict what will be the demand from the shoe companies to him in the coming months. Below is the data he has collected from his monthly order books in the last 3 years:
Quantity of Leather ordered No. of times this quantity
by shoe companies (in kg) was ordered
1200 3
1800 12
2400 10
3000 4
3600 7
(a) Given the above past data, how much stock should he be prepared to keep available for the next month?
(b) Assume that 1 kg of leather costs him Rs.150/- and he sells it to the shoemakers for a price of Rs.175/-. Also for any excess leather stock in a month that remains, he disposes them off by selling to smaller shops for a price of Rs.140/-. If the demand in the next month turns out to be 1800 kg, what would be his profit/loss?