Part 1: The Methods
Often, the overarching question about vanilla is its price. Why is real vanilla extract so expensive? The answer comes down to the method to the madness. Vanilla is the world's third most expensive commercially produced spice, behind only saffron and fennel pollen (and both spices are each a whole another story for another blog). The reason for this comes down to two things:
1. Intensive labor
2. Supply and demand
Intensive labor
In the native environment of V. planifolia (Mexico), the natural pollinator for the orchid flower that develops into the mature pod is various species of orchid bees. These tropical bees don't sting and can only be found within their native ranges in Mexico. Originally, when vanilla was moved to Réunion and Mauritius in 1819 by French entrepreneurs, the orchids did bloom, but failed to produce fruit. Soon enough, a lack of native pollinators was discovered to be an issue.
It wasn't until Edmond Albius, a horticulturist born into slavery, discovered a method to hand pollinate the blossoms correctly in 1841 that vanilla production truly began to blossom worldwide instead of just in Mexico, its native homeland. Soon orchids were sent to Madagascar, Comoros, and Seychelles with instructions on how to pollinate them. Thus, the worldwide vanilla trade was born. 
The pollination of vanilla. Vanilla flowers have both female and male parts, but these parts are separated by another part of the flower. This barrier must be cleared by hand and the pollen from the stamen (male part) must be passed to the pistil (female part) by utilizing a tool to make sure the most pollen is transferred for best chance of development of fertile pods.
But that's not all. If you think that hand-pollinating each blossom is the reason for the high price, you'd be sorely mistaken. Not only do they have to be pollinated by hand, they have to be inspected for ripeness by hand, and they have to be picked by hand. And you thought your job was tedious. Oh, and to add insult to injury? The blooms must be pollinated within 12 hours otherwise they will no longer be viable. Talk about a race against the clock. Oh, and they have to be picked right as the tip splits, otherwise they lose value. More on that later. All of this handling of the vanilla is a main reason why it garners such a high price. But it's not the only one.
Supply and Demand
The basic laws of supply and demand dictate that prices rise and fall accordingly based on the relationship between the two. As supply rises, if demand does not keep up, prices fall as the product proves to be less valued by the consumer. The inverse situation is also true. The true struggle of any business venture is calculating the critical point where supply = demand as often as possible. The curve can of course be manipulated through sales and other short-term measures, but the overall relationship between supply and demand governs global commercial markets.
So where does vanilla fall into that? Well, the demand for vanilla is continuously rising at a rate of 5.7% according to the latest estimates available (2022). To accommodate this, more supply is needed. This supply is attained by planting and harvesting more vanilla beans. Here's where the problem lies: because vanilla is so particular about its requirements, finding new areas of the world fertile enough to support full-scale vanilla production is difficult. With climate change, it gets increasingly more difficult every year.
Additionally, there are occasional disruptions that throw the supply into turmoil. The main such disruption is tropical cyclones, hurricanes, and typhoons. Depending on the degree of destruction, the price of vanilla can increase dramatically. For instance, during Cyclone Ewano in 2017, which impacted Madagascar, the subsequent shortage of vanilla caused by the damage resulted in the rise of prices of vanilla to the term of $500/kilogram. For context, the current price is around $38/kilogram.
This precarious balance between delicate vanilla beans and the insatiable, never-wavering demand for vanilla products, results in consistently high prices to more readily available spices and flavorings, such as salt.
Up Next: All About Vanilla Beans: Grading and Uses