There is too much acetic acid in industry, which is convenient for distillation, because the boiling points of acetic acid and ethyl acetate are quite different, and the excess acetic acid needs to be recovered. If ethanol is excessive, the boiling points of ethanol and ethyl acetate are similar, which is not conducive to separation.
The preparation of ethyl acetate in the laboratory does not consider the recovery of raw materials, and acetic acid is more expensive than ethanol, of course, more than ethanol.