why is white rice cheaper than brown rice if it’s the processed form of latter?
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Price is rarely based on cost. In terms of price all cost tells you is the minimum you can charge without losing money. Brown rice costs more because white rice is seen as the default and brown as a “healthy alternative product” so sellers can price it as if it is a higher quality product.
Everyone is over complicating this.
One word.. Marketing
Brown rice is “healthier” which encouraged supermarkets to move the price up
People are willing to pay more for brown rice, so the distributors/retailers charge accordingly.
Health Food premium. I’m old enough to remember when brown rice cost less than white rice. In fact many grains that were once considered “poor people food” now sell for a premium at places like Whole Foods.
If you were five, I would mention in addition to the other responses, that the cost of production sometimes is not a factor in the price that you sell it for. The price you can sell something for is closely related to the price that someone is willing to spend on it. This is not only always true, and somewhat over simplified. A luxury car that sells for 3x the average car price does not mean it costs 3x to produce.
They’re generally about the same price if you control for the type and brand.
For instance:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mahatma-Rice-100-Whole-Grain-Brown-Rice-2-lb-Bag/10848957
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mahatma-Enriched-Extra-Long-Grain-White-Rice-2-lb-Bag/14940615
All else being equal, you’d expect white rice to be more expensive, but I suspect because it’s a higher volume item, there’s some economy of scale that makes up the difference.
Why does X cost $Y?
Because people are willing to pay $Y.
Popcorn costs pennies. People pay $5 or more at the theater. But popcorn at the movies is tradition, so people pay it. The cost to make the popcorn is irrelevant. It’s a big movie, they want popcorn. This is the only way to get it.
My company sells expensive scientific electronics. A box the size of a lunchbox costs $40,000. It costs us roughly half that to build. And it’s been long enough to not need to worry about past development costs. But nobody else makes something comparable. So universities and the Air Force pay it.
I think for brown rice, it’s seen by customers the same way as wheat bread. Things that are seen as the healthier option are expected to be a little more expensive. Notice that the cost to produce is not part of that equation.
Logistics
The stuff they process out includes a lot of oils that tend to cause spoilage/rancidity
This means brown rice expires more quickly, and more readily than white rice, making it much harder to work with & store
That, and people are willing to pay more for brown rice. Sounds healthier.
So in the case of unrefined vs refined sugar, same factors?
Like it’s cheaper to store processed sugar because they already have the facilities for that but the unprocessed (well, less-processed) needs its own space, plus it’s seen as more healthy so people are ok paying an extra twenty cents a pound?
Same logic applies to ketchup with sugar and no sugar. No sugar ketchup is 4x more expensive but has less ingredients. You are paying more for a healthier version even though it was processed less
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