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The price of your favourite chocolate bar is set to increase even more.
Cocoa has already jumped in price by more than 40% in just the last month, hitting £4,909 per metric tonne on Friday, up from £3,443 on January 9. On Friday alone the price jumped by more than 5% on London’s ICE exchange.
Nestle earlier this week said that it would no longer make Breakaway and Yorkie biscuit bars, citing falling sales.
On Thursday, US producer Hershey’s said it was cutting costs by 300 million dollars (£238 million) and warned it would miss market forecasts.
Cocoa prices had already risen massively, from around £1,904 a year ago, and last month Cadbury’s warned that it was having to make “carefully considered price increases”.
“Making changes to the price of our products is always a last resort, however, costs across our supply chain have risen steeply,” it said in a response to a customer on X, formerly Twitter.
“Core ingredients we heavily rely on, like cocoa and sugar are a lot more expensive, while the cost of energy, packaging, and transport also remain high.
“As a result, we are having to make some carefully considered price increases across our range so we can continue to provide consumers with the brands they love without compromising on taste or quality.”
Michele Buck, who runs the Hershey Company, said the company would have to change prices in light of higher cocoa costs, in order to manage the business.
Research by Which? last year found that the price of Christmas chocolate boxes had risen by at least 50% compared to the year before.
Towards the end of last year, the price of chocolate had been increasing at nearly twice the speed of other food and drink at supermarkets.
In September it emerged that chocolate brand Galaxy had cut the size of its Smooth Milk bar from 110g to 100g, while the price had increased from 99p to £1.25 in Tesco. On Friday a 110g Galaxy bar cost £1.35 on the supermarket’s website.
Nestle has announced it will stop making two of Britain’s favourite childhood biscuits, the Breakaway and Yorkie biscuit bars.
A Nestle spokeswoman said: “We know fans will be disappointed to see it go, but it’s time for us to say goodbye to Breakaway.
“We have seen a decline in the sales of Breakaway over the past few years and, unfortunately, we had to make the difficult decision to discontinue it.
“By saying goodbye to Breakaway, we can focus on our best-performing brands, as well as develop exciting new innovations to delight consumers’ tastebuds.”
FAQs
“Core ingredients we heavily rely on, like cocoa and sugar are a lot more expensive, while the cost of energy, packaging, and transport also remain high.
Why are chocolate bars shrinking? ›
Shrinkflation is a tactic commonly used by the food industry, where manufacturers cut pack sizes without reducing prices, as they look to reduce their costs amid stubbornly high food price inflation. Galaxy's smooth milk chocolate bar was previously sold in a pack weighing 110g, but now tips the scales at 100g.
What chocolate bars are being discontinued in 2024? ›
Discontinued UK sweets and chocolates
Meanwhile, Nestle revealed in November last year it was discontinuing its Caramac and Animal Bars much to the disappointment of fans. Before in February (2024) revealing it was cutting Breakaway and Yorkie biscuit bars from its range of products.
Is there really a chocolate shortage? ›
The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) predicts production will trail demand by 374,000 metric tons in the 2023-2024 season, the third straight shortfall.
What is the 5 chocolate bar rule? ›
So, if you're in this predicament, what you're doing to do is: Buy "5 blocks of chocolate" (or a seemingly "unlimited" amount of the food you struggle with) Every time you finish one block of chocolate, replace it so that you've always got 5 blocks This helps to remove the novelty of the food and allows your brain to ...
Is endless chocolate really endless? ›
All you need to know is that its not infinite. The extra bar of chocolate is from the place where you cut it. The diagonal cut. If you keep doing that, you will eventually run out of chocolate, since that cut will be bigger and bigger.
Have Kit Kats got smaller? ›
One Aussie shared a picture of two Kit Kat bars side by side showing a dramatic difference in their size. Nestle has now confirmed the size of their 'fun size' Kit Kats has indeed become smaller, with the confectionary company reducing the weight by 3 grams, from 17 to 14 grams.
Why are Snickers so small now? ›
A popular chocolate treat is the latest victim of 'shrinkflation' as rising costs put pressure on food manufacturers. Shoppers will soon find the regular 50 gram Snickers bars replaced by 44g versions – with the $2 price tag unchanged.
Have Hershey bars gotten smaller? ›
Hershey bars prove an interesting shrinkflation study because in 1970 they were a hefty 46g and they've been shrinking ever since – they're now a svelte 43g. But (and yes, a big but) they are actually bigger now than they were when they first hit the shelves in 1960.
How does the infinite chocolate glitch actually work? ›
How does the infinite chocolate trick work? The “extra block” is simply a trick, or a geometric illusion. If you only count the blocks in the chocolate bar, you will find the same number before and after the experiment. The chocolate bar almost looks the same as it did before you took away the extra block.
Crafting Chocolate
- 🔥 Fire + 💨 Wind -> 💨 Smoke.
- 🔥 Fire + 🌎 Earth -> 🌋 Lava.
- 💧 Water + 🌋 Lava -> Stone.
- 💨 Smoke + Stone -> 🗽 Statue.
- 🌋 Lava + Stone -> 🔪 Obsidian.
- 🗽 Statue + 🔪 Obsidian -> 🌋 Aztec.
- 💧 Water + 🌋 Aztec -> 🍫 Chocolate.
Since November 2022 the dark chocolate Bounty has not been available. Mars UK said in September 2023 that "we have temporarily had to delist Bounty Dark for operational reasons and we're working hard to bring the product back when we can".
Why is the Wonka bar no longer around? ›
In 2005, when Charlie and the Chocolate Factory premiered, demand for the bars were again high, but the bars became discontinued once the demand died off, in January 2010. Ferrero Group currently owns the rights to the Wonka Bars name, bought from Nestlé, but by then, the bars were gone in the U.S.
Why will we run out of chocolate? ›
This is mainly due to the weather phenomenon El Nino, which caused unseasonably heavy rainfall in December last year, resulting in black pod disease widely damaging crops. A combination of climate change and the continuation of El Nino also led to extreme heat in the following months, further disrupting harvests.
What happened to the chocolate bar topic? ›
The Topic bar, which was introduced in 1962 with the promise of 'a hazelnut in every bite', made a final farewell in 2021. And the Time Out, a wafer-based treat slathered in Cadbury milk chocolate, was scrapped after 24 years in 2016.
