Economics question

[Karl Marx's Camel]

How come unrefined rice is more expensive than refined?

[Whitten]

I didn't know that it was. If I were to venture a guess, however, I would suggest that it may be an issue of the longevity, or perishability during transport of the unrefined variety. Ofcourse that is just an educated guess, i know very little about the logistics of the world rice market.

[apathy maybe]

This is similarly just an 'educated guess'. I believe that it has to do with the production process. Wikipedia has information, but not about the economics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice#Preparation_as_food

[Leo]

How come unrefined rice is more expensive than refined?

Is it really? This doesn't make any sense :unsure:

[gilhyle]

Different kinds of rice maybe ? Where is the evidence that it is more expensive ? Give us a link ?

[Janus]

Well, refined rice is much more widespread and popular while unrefined rice is rarer and considered more healthy.

[rouchambeau]

I would guess that there is more capital tied up in refined rice.

[ComradeRed]

Rice prices vary from "unrefined" (by which I assume you mean brown) rice and "white" rice greatly, some are more expensive than others by brand name rather than by type.

Take a look here: Buy Rice Online (http://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=1174&gclid=CNOK3KCSwYsCFQU8YQodGkHcAg).

The prices are not noticeably related to the property of being refined or not.

[BobKKKindle$]

But surely according to the LTV the price (which is essentially the same as the ratios in which commodities exchange - I think) should be determined by the amount of labour required to produce one unit of the commodity in question - and unrefined rice requires less labour to produce? Unless of course, as one said, transportation costs are greater in the case of unrefined rice.

It is also the possibility that expenditure in 'un-productive' sectors such as advertising that do not interact with constant or variable capital but establishes the concept of a 'brand-identity' upsets the relationship between labour and price as established by the LTV?

[RebelDog]

A simple google search uncovered this:


In it’s unrefined form, brown rice has a very short shelf life of 6 to 12 months. This is because the fatty acids, unprotected from the air in the outer layers of the kernel go rancid relatively quickly. In it’s refined form, white rice will store for many years if carefully preserved.

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:lol1YfU...lient=firefox-a (http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:lol1YfUAvQAJ:waltonfeed.com/self/rice.html+refined+unrefined+rice+more+expensive&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk&client=firefox-a)

It seems the shelf life is the factor.