I used to work in a spice factory. Unlike everything else, they locked the saffron up separately. There were detailed weight logs for when we hand packed (with tweezers) it into jars. We were told it was worth more by weight than cocaine.
"Always separate the drugs."
A bit like how, if you're used to how cheap avocados are on the US west coast, you can suffer from sticker shock when buying them on the east side.
Edit:
Seems like the top producer, Iran, does make 160.000 kg/year.
From the list I found online the sum of the next 9 countries is less than 20.000kg
When I went earlier today, this locally-grown product was the only saffron available. https://i.imgur.com/q8z9MBF.jpeg
And that's for basic iranian saffron.
Quality italian/spanish one (strong in crocin content) is at least 30 euros per gram.
At 'oriental' stores you can find good saffron in larger packages at lower price per weight.
Quality 1 saffron at ICA (largest swedish supermarket chain) is 24 euros per gram.
Anything below ISO 1/Quality 1 is cut or low quality.
Probably more expensive in the 'big' cities.