Cocoa prices have hit a record high, sparking fears that the cost of a chocolate bar could rise.
The price of this popular commodity has surged by over 40 percent in just the last month, reaching £4,909 per metric tonne on Friday, up from £3,443 on January 9. On Friday alone, the price jumped by more than 5 percent on London’s ICE exchange.
A year ago, cocoa prices were around £1,904. Last month, Cadbury’s warned it was having to make “carefully considered price increases”. They said: “Making changes to the price of our products is always a last resort, however, costs across our supply chain have risen steeply.”
Cadbury’s added: “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.”
They explained: “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.”
In other news, Nestle announced earlier this week that it would no longer make Breakaway and Yorkie biscuit bars due to falling sales. On Thursday, US producer Hershey’s said that it was going to have to cut costs by 300 million dollars (£238million) and warned it would miss market forecasts.
Michele Buck, the boss of the Hershey Company, has warned that chocolate prices may have to rise due to increasing cocoa costs. Last year, a study by Which? revealed that the cost of festive chocolate boxes had shot up by at least 50 percent compared to the previous year.
By the end of last year, the price of chocolate was rising nearly twice as fast as other food and drink in supermarkets. In a shocking revelation last September, it was found that Galaxy had reduced the size of its Smooth Milk bar from 110g to 100g, while the price had jumped from 99p to £1.25 in Tesco. As of Friday, a 110g Galaxy bar was priced at £1.35 on Tesco’s website.
