Why Halloween candy is getting more expensive and less chocolatey

new York
—

Even Halloween cheer will cost more this year, with less chocolate than in previous years.

Expect more packets of sour candy, straddling a meteor effect last year. Your child’s treat bag can be filled with lots of pumpkin spice filled things. And like last year, cocoa bean industry experts expect high prices to be passed on to consumers.

And With cocoa prices high, producers everywhere, from specialist chocolatiers to candy giants, are changing the way they sell their treats. For consumers, this could mean less chocolate per pack, higher prices and less cocoa – which means less chocolatey chocolate – compared to before.

Overall, candy is 10.8% more expensive this Halloween season than last year, according to an analysis of NielsenIQ data conducted by progressive think tank Groundwork Collaborative and shared first with CNN. This is almost quadruple the overall inflation rate.

In 2024, Halloween candy prices will only increase 2.1%, according to the analysis.

Halloween spending is no fun affair. Americans shelled out $7.4 billion on Halloween chocolate and candy sales in 2024, a 2.2% increase from 2023, the National Confectioners Association said.

Escazú Chocolates, a bean-to-bar chocolate shop in Raleigh, North Carolina, sources most of its beans from Latin America. The store said it has always worked with small farmers and paid them three to four times the price of cocoa – which essentially sets the minimum wage. The price surge has also increased what Escazú pays these workers.

Other cost-cutting measures include offering a smaller hot chocolate size, advertising non-chocolate ice cream toppings and moving to a less expensive location in Raleigh to save on rent.

And like many small American businesses, Escazú is being hit by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which affect not only chocolate but also the aluminum in its packaging.

“The tariffs have affected every element of what goes into everything,” Tiana Young, co-owner of Escazú, told CNN. “There is no new normal.”

Halloween Treats May Look and Taste a Little Different

Most Americans don’t shop for Halloween candy at specialty stores. But even consumers of mass-produced candy can taste – and see – the difference from just a few years ago.

Wells Fargo economist David Branch said users can expect inflation to contract further. Hershey told its retail partners in May, it would adjust its “price pack architecture,” the company’s term, to reduce the amount of product in a package so customers don’t feel like they’re paying more for chocolate.

Some specialty chocolatiers also reduce the cocoa content of their bars and increase the sugar content, for example by selling a bar with 65% cocoa instead of 75%.

Gummy candy and rising cocoa prices have a sort of symbiotic relationship. Younger customers are gravitating toward chewy, sweet treats — sales of sour candies, for example, are up 7% year over year, according to the National Confectioners Association. By making more candy and less chocolate, candy companies attract sugar-hungry customers while saving profit margins.

Companies are also launching special flavors that don’t rely as much on chocolate – for example, cinnamon and toast flavored KitKats help save on chocolate costs.

“We’re seeing more specialty products coming out where they add the least cost (toppings),” Branch said.

Candy in numbers

Branch said customers can expect to pay as much as last year for Halloween chocolate this year — if not more — through Valentine’s Day. Although cocoa prices have fallen since the end of 2024, most producers sell candies made from the beans they purchased during this period. And costs in other sectors, like energy and packaging, have also driven up costs.

But at the heart of the problem are the beans.

Soaring prices for cocoa beans have driven up costs in the chocolate industry. Global cocoa futures prices rose 178% in 2024 from the previous year, following a 61% increase in 2023, according to FactSet. The problem dates back to Ghana and Ivory Coast, which together produce 60% of the world’s cocoa and have been hit by poor harvests due to climate change.

Although cocoa futures prices have fallen 46% so far this year, customers are now seeing higher prices because producers are making chocolate from the expensive beans harvested in 2024, as well as tariffs and inflation-related costs. And cocoa prices are still much higher than they were in 2022.

Groundwork Collaborative found that prices for Hershey’s variety packs have increased 22% since last year, Mars (which contains Milky Way, M&Ms, Three Musketeers and Skittles) have increased 12% and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups have increased 8%. Even gummies faced higher prices: Mondelez’s pack of gummies, which includes Sour Patch Kids, rose 9.4%.

In July, Hershey told retailers it was raising prices on chocolate products by a percentage in the “low double-digit range.” But the price increase does not include seasonal Halloween candy, the company said.