Brown rice costs anywhere from $3 to $7 more where I live in Northern California. Shouldn’t it be cheaper, considering it still has the husk on the grain?
Brown rice costs anywhere from $3 to $7 more where I live in Northern California. Shouldn’t it be cheaper, considering it still has the husk on the grain?
Comments
Supply and demand. If the demand for one goes up, so will the price.
Because white rice is brown rice with the nutrients removed. Those nutrients can also be sold. The two parts together are more expensive
Normal rice = Better shelf life, no spoil.
Brown rice = Less shelf life, cost go up because too much loss.
The price people are willing to pay for a product has nothing to do with the cost of producing it.
Economies of scale
We product far more white rice because that’s the rice most people want, so even though it needs more processing per grain it’s still cheaper
White rice is far more popular, and so it benefits more from economies of scale. Also brown rice goes bad a lot quicker than white rice. Recommended shelf life for dry brown rice is something like 3-6 months, while white rice can go for a couple years.
White rice is easier to deal with logistically, and that’s where a lot of cost comes from for stores.
Brown rice is perishable and has a shorter shelf life. It’s stuff from the bran that goes bad
In some countries, white eggs are the norm and people are willing to pay extra for brown eggs thinking they “better” in some way. In other countries, brown eggs are the norm and people are willing to pay extra for white eggs thinking they are better.
People are weird.
Demand for brown rice is higher because your insulin spikes less with it and people are learning that.
Brown rice can’t be stored as long as white rice. The oils in the rice bran can go rancid, so the shelf life is weeks or months, while white rice can be stored for much longer, if necessary. So brown rice is more expensive to distribute.
The rice bran can be sold or used to manufacture other products.
Also, products viewed as healthier often can be sold at a premium, regardless of the cost to produce (or if they even have a significant health benefit.)
Typically the husk is removed, even for brown rice. There’s another brownish layer called the bran. The bran has oil in it and starts tasting bad after 6 months or so, whereas white lasts for years with proper storage.
Affirmative action. Both are the same, for the most part. But decades ago brown rice was oppressed so now we’re forced to pay more for the same thing.
White rice = 9/10
White Rice over Brown Rice = 10/10
There is a terrible joke in there somewhere, but I am gonna say one stores better and has a larger supply .
Pretty simple when you think about it: demand.
The rice eating world doesn’t eat brown rice that much. It’s like, why does the long grain rice that Americans eat cost SO much more per pound than the medium grain rice Asians eat? Demand.
That 2 pound bag of long grain white rice costs $3+ per pound. The 25 pound bag of medium grain white rice we buy costs $1.48 per pound. Medium grain brown rice costs a similar price, up to $2 a pound. It’s about demand. Asians eat more medium grain rice, so white or brown, the price is similar. Some brown medium grain rice costs exactly the same as the white rice.
My wife has eaten rice every day her whole life. Can’t stand typical American long grain rice. She tolerates medium grain brown rice.
OP, you’re talking long grain rice. Medium grain brown rice is not more expensive than white. Demand for long grain rice is low, so it all costs more. Brown long grain rice has even lower demand, so it costs most.
Same reason why fresh vegetables cost more than canned. Spoilage