And one of the main problems is that they don't yet know what they need to complete the formulas, or even when the formulas stop. So there's no "okay, I only need 20 more moonbeams for all the remaining bottled up moonlights." They've seen repetitions of earlier crafted components, so they have to assume that whatever needed moonbeams or petals may show up again with even more of them required. So I can see the temptation in buying up caches and keeping the components in reserve.
But eventually those who have the formulas will finish (or give up) and others will realize they're not getting their hands on the formulas as soon as they hope, and maybe prices will lower again.