Soaring chocolate prices impacting trick-or-treaters

Kids will be looking to stock up on candy, chips and chocolate on Halloween, but the latter might be hard to come by amid soaring cocoa prices.

Anne Guerin has opted to hand out Old Dutch potato chips this year after taking a look at how much trick-or-treat-sized chocolate bars cost.

“The chocolate is too expensive, and I understand that the packaging is even smaller,” said Guerin.

“The kids deserve something for Halloween.”

According to the Halloween Treat Cost Report out of Dalhousie University, mini chocolate bars have increased in price by 15 per cent compared to last year.

“The price of cocoa is basically four times the five-year average right now,” said Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.

“Most major manufacturers, like Nestlé, have to pay more for their inputs, and so they’ve decided to ‘shrinkflate’ a lot of their products.”

Charlebois says prices have gone up per bar compared to last year by about 15 per cent while the bar continues to shrink.

“I think we’ve actually reached peak shrinkflation,” he said.

The change is thanks to the soaring cost of cocoa beans, which has more than quadrupled in the past two years due to drought and crop disease in West Africa, where 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa beans are produced.

“I think we are starting to see more production, but demand is up in Asia as well,” he said.

This rise in prices comes as Canadian households are spending 10 to 20 per cent more on Halloween candy, according to the Halloween Treat Cost Report.

For people looking for a deal, Charlebois advises them to wait until Thursday to purchase their trick-or-treat candy.

“Avoid grocery stores—go to pharmacies, dollar stores (and) discount stores. Those are the places you are going to find bargains.”

Impact on Calgary chocolate business

Cochu Chocolatier in the East Village offers various Halloween treats for the candy-filled festivity.

“All sorts of fun stuff,” said Anne Sellmer, Cochu Chocolatier operator.

The business has felt the impacts of soaring cocoa prices, as some products they order have increased by well over 200 per cent.

For those looking to purchase Halloween products, it has tried to absorb most of the cost.

“Prices have gone up more than 10 per cent but probably not more than 20,” said Sellmer.

“We’ve really tried to hold back.”

Sellmer says another challenge she faces is supply chain distribution, where “suddenly we can’t get a particular chocolate for months on end.”