as I had posted be for as it seams it fits better here.
I agree that the trade needs commodities. and things for haulers to move around. these things can't be 100 player driven. I could see npc passengers wanting to go where the commodities are and commodities wanted where the npc population is draining the commodities. this is the player side of the interaction moving commodities and npc passengers around pushing a supply and demand with some rng to keep it moving. as the supply and demand of things can get stagnant with just player demand unless players are constantly losing things they need. and if that is the case then we will forever be sweating ore to the npc bots to pay for are losses.
to add. Agriculture drives Real world trade why not add the ability to grow a product on claimed land / constructs, that is planet specific crops purchased by the npcs on other planets with a Demand Curve.