Whether it\u2019s a favourite bar, biscuit or indulgent hot drink, feeding a chocolate habit costs more than it used to.<\/p>\n
The price of the chocolate on shop shelves climbed by 15.4% in the year to August, according to the latest cost of living snapshot.<\/p>\n
Although other price moves meant overall UK inflation was unchanged at 3.8%<\/a> last month, chocolate was a big riser. Alongside hikes for beef, butter and coffee, it helped propel food price inflation back over 5% for the first time in 18 months.<\/p>\n At \u00a330 a go, the luxury 1kg jars of giant chocolate buttons sold by gifting brand Cocoba were a casualty of a soaring cocoa price, explains the company\u2019s founder Darren Litton.<\/p>\n With cocoa prices more than doubling over the past two years as a result of poor harvests in west Africa, including Ghana and Ivory Coast, even something aimed at gift buyers was being priced off the shelf.<\/p>\n \u201cWe delisted them for a while because we couldn\u2019t even sell them at \u00a340 with the price of everything involved,\u201d Litton says.<\/p>\n Cocoa now commands about $7,800 (\u00a35,700) per tonne on international commodities markets from below $3,500 (\u00a32,600) two years ago. The price peaked at more than $12,000 (\u00a38,800) at the end of 2024.<\/p>\n The easing price means Cocoba is bringing the jars of giant buttons back for Christmas, but even at \u00a340 Litton says it\u2019s a challenge to make the numbers add up.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cocoa price is still at a very, very high level but seems to be settling down a bit,\u201d he adds. \u201cWe make everything at our factory in Kent. We\u2019ve had to increase prices and invest in equipment to improve efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n Cocoba is a minnow in a market dominated by big names such as Nestl\u00e9 and Mars but surging ingredient costs have hurt them too. Mondel\u0113z, which owns Cadbury, expects annual profits to fall 10% owing to higher cocoa prices.<\/p>\n The squeeze has triggered numerous rounds of shrinkflation, with the Guardian recently revealing that tubs of Quality Street and Celebrations and even some Toblerone bars have shrunk<\/a> ahead of Christmas.<\/p>\n Not much gets past cash-strapped shoppers, who have also raised eyebrows on discovering a KitKat nine-pack is now an eight-pack, and a multipack of Freddos contains four not five chocolates.<\/p>\n Alex Lawrence, a retail expert at data company Circana, says higher ingredient costs are being passed on to the consumer. \u201cIf you look at the average price per kg for chocolate confectionery it\u2019s up 27% over the last two years, and 12% in the last year.\u201d<\/p>\n Britons spent \u00a35.9bn on chocolate in stores in the year to 9 August. Although that figure was up 10%, they actually physically took home less in their baskets.<\/p>\n \u201cThe quantity we are buying is down 2% year-on-year,\u201d says Lawrence. \u201cPeople are definitely pulling back in terms of their consumption.\u201d<\/p>\n Shop price data compiled for the Guardian reveals the extent of increases over the past two years, with favourites such as Cadbury Dairy Milk or Galaxy costing about 30% more than in 2023.<\/p>\n A 110g bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk now costs \u00a31.84 on average, which works out at 42p more than in 2023, according to the price analysts Assosia. The equivalent Galaxy bar has gone up by the same amount to \u00a31.79. The data is based on the average pre-promotion price across Tesco, Sainsbury\u2019s, Asda and Morrisons.<\/p>\n The big companies all say the same thing when asked about pack size reductions and price increases. Earlier this month a spokesperson for Mondel\u0113z told the Guardian it continued to experience \u201csignificantly higher input costs across our supply chain\u201d, with ingredients such as cocoa and dairy costing far more than they had done previously.<\/p>\n \u201cMeanwhile, other costs, such as energy and transport, also remain high. This means that our products continue to be much more expensive to make.\u201d<\/p>\n On the high street, the upmarket Knoops chain<\/a> sells posh hot chocolates graded by cocoa percentage, with prices starting at \u00a34 for a drink made with a 28% single-origin Colombian chocolate.<\/p>\n Knoops\u2019 hot chocolate drinks are graded by cocoa percentage. Photograph: Martin Godwin\/The Guardian<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a wild ride for cocoa prices,\u201d says company founder Jens Knoop. It is not just cocoa, he adds that the chain\u2019s matcha bill increased 53% this month.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile there have been increases in our per kilo chocolate price \u2026 we have only passed on a small percentage of that to our customers in their chocolate drinks,\u201d says Knoop.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Business Today<\/p>\n Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n But while you might treat yourself to Knoops\u2019 most expensive brew \u2013 a limited edition 68% single-origin Madagascan chocolate costing \u00a37.90 \u2013 on a day out, in the supermarket consumers balk at tubs of instant hot chocolate costing north of a fiver.<\/p>\n The price of a 220g jar of Options is up 20% over two years at \u00a35.40, according to Assosia, prompting shoppers to take to supermarket websites to complain. \u201cThis is a good product,\u201d writes one. \u201cIt used to be reasonably priced \u00a33-\u00a34 Now it is \u00a35.40!!!!\u201d<\/p>\n In a similar vein, at \u00a34.50 a 500g tub of Cadbury hot chocolate costs a fifth more than it did in 2023.<\/p>\n Shoppers also complain that other price changes take the biscuit. At \u00a32.25, a 266g pack of McVitie\u2019s milk chocolate digestives costs 35p more than two years ago. Meanwhile a 130g pack of Fox\u2019s milk chocolatey rounds is now \u00a32.30. The same pack cost \u00a31.87 two years ago.<\/p>\n The increases are also notable on supermarket own-label chocolate digestives \u2013 which provide a cheaper alternative to the big brands \u2013 with a 300g pack now \u00a31.12, up from 85p two years ago.<\/p>\n Food and drink inflation could hit 5.7% by the end of year, up from August\u2019s reading of 5.1%, according to the Food<\/a> and Drink Federation.<\/p>\n Karen Betts, the trade body\u2019s chief executive, says rising food prices were previously down to energy and commodity shocks, but now government policies \u2013 such as April\u2019s increase in employers\u2019 national insurance contributions<\/a> \u2013 were a driver.<\/p>\n \u201cThe costs are such that companies can no longer absorb them and are having to pass at least some of them on to consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n Temprd makes \u2018properly chunky\u2019 chocolate bars. Photograph: Carla Watkins for Temprd Chocolate\/Carla Watkins for temprd.co.uk<\/p>\n Needless to say it\u2019s a difficult environment for small companies such as Temprd, which makes \u201cproperly chunky\u201d chocolate bars, in flavours such as lemon and blueberry cheesecake.<\/p>\n When Rob Anthony started the Essex company with his brother five years ago he was aware that its premium bars looked expensive compared to \u201crun of the mill\u201d chocolate. \u201cAt that time our bars were probably around \u00a33 per 100g. Now they are \u00a34.50.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had to make two jumps, from \u00a33 to \u00a33.75 and then to \u00a34.50, so two price rises in the last four years,\u201d he says, but is hopeful the worst is over.<\/p>\n \u201cThere might be a [cocoa] surplus this year, because demand has fallen, and production has been quite good. We\u2019re fairly confident we can survive through from now to next Easter without having to put our prices up.\u201d<\/p>\n As the brands sold in supermarkets become more expensive Anthony suggests people are becoming more circumspect.<\/p>\n