[LookingForward2NBE]

2 more points to consider as well.

Quality Control
Even though company x has a purer product then y, if there Quality Control standards are poor, then reliability of the product will suffer. For example, PM is considered a commodity. So if they don't control where they buy, the marketer could end buying from framer A one day and farmer B the next week and farmer C the third week. A good company, would negotiate withe farmer and buy direct, but that is very rare.

Perceived Value
In the whey example above, customers may see a US manufactured product as being worth more due to higher standards not as an absolute but as a rule. It wasn't long ago that Chinese made was seen as inferior to Japanese made but that gap in perception and reality has closed tremendously the last 20 years. For the whey example, that perception is due to a US manufacturer who expanded into the EU and in doing so, sub contract manufacturing to a European house. The EU partner did a horrible job and all the customers were demanding US made product. Its been 10 years since that event but it still lingers. As for Australia, there are few manufacturers and even less marketers doing as good a job as most US competitors its a demand issue that drives the imports. You see that in herbal products as well. There is real cause for concern for china direct suppliers so its not smoke and mirrors..

So Absolutely it matters and absolutely you'll get variations in result depending on who you buy it from.