Barley is a kind of barley, also known as naked barley and yuan wheat. Barley flour is flour ground from barley. Edible, it is a staple food in Tibetan areas. The price of highland barley produced in Tibet is much cheaper than that of flour.
Now why is highland barley flour more expensive than white flour here?
There are several reasons.
1, at that time, highland barley was the main food in Tibetan areas, and flour was hard to eat. It is not because highland barley is cheap, but because white flour is too expensive, which leads to highland barley being relatively cheap.
2, highland barley is not the main food crop, so the planting area of highland barley has been greatly reduced, which is a step increase in the price of highland barley.
3. At present, highland barley is mainly processed as industrial raw materials or feed, and the total amount of food flowing into the market is a small part, so the price of highland barley which is a part of food is relatively high. As the saying goes, things are rare. If the price of industrial raw materials is compared, the price of highland barley is lower than that of flour.
4. Due to the technical progress, the normal wheat has obviously improved, and the wheat price in the market has obviously dropped. Highland barley is not the main food crop, so the technical progress is not so obvious, and the yield is not so significantly improved.
5. With convenient transportation, people in Tibetan areas can do the same. Flour is cheap, who will take highland barley as the staple food? Therefore, highland barley has become a kind of luxury and health-preserving consumption.
Similar to this, there are corn flour and sorghum flour, which are all roughly these reasons.