Will Easter chocolate cost more? What to know amid high cocoa prices

globalnews.ca:

Canadians might have to pay more for chocolate and candies this Easter as manufacturers feel the crunch of high cocoa prices, which peaked earlier this month.

Cocoa futures have more than doubled over the past year. Global prices hit a record high right before Valentine’s Day, with cocoa futures trading at US$6 (C$8.10) per kilogram, according to the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).  A year ago, a kilogram of cocoa cost US$2.70 (C$3.70).

The soaring costs of a key ingredient of chocolates have the world’s biggest candy makers, like Hershey’s and Cadbury, already eyeing more price hikes.

Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, said cocoa futures have been pricey for a while, but the climb in the last month has been “incredibly spectacular.”

This is mainly due to a lack of production amid climate challenges in cocoa producing countries, especially Ivory Coast. That does not bode well for chocolate lovers.

“Over the next several months, we are expecting chocolate prices to be impacted at retail,” Charlebois said in an interview with Global News.

“Now whether or not we’re expecting chocolate at Easter to be impacted is unclear.”

Milk chocolate prices might be impacted less than dark chocolate, which has a high content of cocoa, he added.

Meanwhile, the price of sugar, another key ingredient in chocolate, has also gone up.

According to the latest inflation data from Statistics Canada published Tuesday, the price of sugar and confectionary increased by 9.3 per cent last month compared with a year ago. However, that was a slower price growth than the 9.6 per cent recorded in December 2023.

“In Canada, a lot of products for Easter, for example, would include both cocoa and sugar, and