The US economy is developed, so why are prices so cheap?
Cheap and expensive are only relative terms. Compared with our country, prices in the US are indeed considerably cheaper. This is reflected not only in agricultural products, but also in electronics and medical and health supplies, which are all much cheaper than at home, but the US labor cost is really not low.
The monthly salary of American citizens is basically 3000 US dollars, and this income level is far higher than the income level in our country. However, when it comes to prices, we find that prices in our country are much higher than in the US. In the US, soybeans cost 1.2 yuan per jin, while in our country they reach 1.7 yuan per jin, and the same is true of corn, pork, and beef. Even though incomes in our country are lower than in the US, prices there are still so much cheaper than in our country.
However, although the prices of the above agricultural products look relatively cheap, friends who have been to the US may find that the prices of processed agricultural food products sold in American supermarkets are still very high. In this regard, it is mainly because US labor costs are too high: raw materials are not worth much, but labor is quite valuable.
As for the reasons why US agricultural product prices are relatively low, Science Xingnong believes there are mainly the following points.
The cost of US agricultural products is relatively low
As we mentioned above, as long as agricultural products do not involve too much labor, their prices will not be high, and US agricultural products, whether crops, grain, vegetables, or livestock farming, have generally been mechanized and scaled up on a large scale, and because land rent in the US is relatively cheap, the prices of agricultural products are really much lower than in our country. The entire US has 300 million people, while the agricultural population is only 2-3 million, whereas relatively speaking, our country's agricultural population accounts for 600 million, so by comparison the production cost of our country's small-scale peasant economy is much higher.
China is in the position of an importing country
The US is not only an industrial power in the world, but also a major and strong agricultural country. Today the US not only exports industrial products abroad, but also exports agricultural products in large quantities, while our country is in the opposite position. For example, an Apple phone costs 699 US dollars in the US, which is less than 5000 yuan converted into RMB, but when it reaches our country the price is as high as 8000-10000 yuan. The key here is the addition of import tariffs, and this is even more so with agricultural products. Last year our country imported 33 million tons of soybeans, so how could the prices of our country's products be brought down?
US transportation costs are relatively low
In our country, although the transportation of agricultural products such as vegetables and grain is exempt from road transportation management fees, other products still have to pay transportation management fees. In the US, however, the transshipment of goods is not charged, and in the process of goods transshipment, goods can be transported from the beginning to the destination without extra additional fees.
However, while US prices seem cheap, do not think that it would be easy for us to go and live in the US. For example, taking a shower or getting a haircut costs dozens of US dollars, and hiring someone to repair a car, as a service fee, costs much more. And without sufficient earning ability, such a level of consumption is also hard to afford.