Easter eggs from Cadbury's and Nestle set to be more expensive this year
Easter eggs are set to be a tad more expensive - and potentially be smaller - this Easter as the price of wholesale cocoa has skyrocketed.
Easter has become all about the chocolate eggs and millions of Brits look forward to treating themselves over the Easter bank holiday weekend with a chocolate egg - or two. However this year many may be frustrated to see costs rise and product sizes drop. According to reports from the Telegraph, chocolate giant Cadbury will be shrinking their products this year - meaning you'll get less chocolate for the same price.
Cadbury's £5 Dairy Milk Easter Egg has reportedly shrunk in size from 286g in 2022 to 245g this year. The brand's Freddo bar has also reduced over the last few years going from 122g in 2022 to 96g today - with the price sitting at £1.25 or £1.50 rather than £1. Cadbury's medium Wispa Easter egg now sits at 182.5g, down from 224g, and still costs £3 - although some retailers are selling it at £3.25. Cadbury recently responded to a customer on X - formerly Twitter - about this issue.
The X user asked whether they needed to "take out a loan" to buy a bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs adding: "What are these prices?". The Chocolate giant responded by explaining that its "core ingredients" such as cocoa and sugar were now more expensive and prices only changed as a "last resort".
Cadbury's post read: "Making changes to the price of our products is always a last resort, however, costs across our supply chain have risen steeply. 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.
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A spokesperson for Cadbury's owner Mondelez told the Telegraph: “Looking ahead, given these challenges and specifically the rising cocoa prices, we may be required to make further, carefully considered changes within our UK portfolio. This could include different measures such as cost price increases or changing the unit weights of our products, but always as a last resort.”
Fellow chocolate giant Nestle also confirmed that it may need to “make adjustments to the price or weight of some of our products” because of surging cocoa prices.
A spokesperson said: "Like every manufacturer of cocoa-related products, we have been experiencing significant increases in the cost of cocoa, making it much more expensive to manufacture our products. While we are doing everything we can to manage these costs, in order to maintain the highest standards of quality, it is sometimes necessary to make adjustments to the price or weight of some of our products. Retail pricing is always at the sole discretion of individual retailers.”
Last week, Hershey warned that wholesale cocoa prices were expected to limit earnings growth this year with chief executive Michele Buck noting that the company would be "using everything in its toolbox" to manage the costs which included raising prices.
Poor weather in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, where most of the world's cocoa comes from, is being blamed for damaging crops and pushing up costs. The price of cocoa has risen by more than 40% since the start of January and more than doubled since the start of 2023. A tonne of cocoa has now topped around $5,500 (£4,355) - this breaks the last record high set in 1977.
Modelez has been contacted for comment.
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