Chocolate Halloween candy hit by inflation, tariffs, high cocoa prices

The scariest thing we encounter on Halloween this year is not a ghost, goblin or ghoul; price of chocolate.

From Snickers to Reese’s to Twix, one of America’s favorite treats is getting more expensive; because tariffs, inflation and high cocoa prices are squeezing profit margins and customers’ pockets, possibly leading to fewer chocolates landing in trick-or-treating buckets this year.

According to the research firm’s data, chocolate prices have increased by nearly 30 percent since last Halloween and by almost 78 percent in the last five years. Circana and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The price of a 100-piece candy pack has increased from $7.20 in 2020 to $16.39 now. FinansBuzz to create.

This increase is visible on store shelves. Various packages Everything — maker of Reese’s, KitKats and Heath bars — rose about 22%, while Mars, the company behind M&M’s and Milky Way, raised prices about 12%, according to the Century Foundation and Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive, independent think tank.

“The season started slowly,” Hershey CEO Kirk Tanner told investors. earning The call Thursday warned that holiday sales could be softer this year.

Nearly 4 in 5 Americans buy candy for the Halloween holiday YouGov. This time of year accounts for approximately 18% of annual confectionery sales in the United States; This is second only to Christmas. National Confectioners Association.

However, chocolate’s dominance is shifting. Circana found that Halloween candy accounted for 52% of sales this year, compared to 44% this year, as shoppers turned to cheaper, trendier desserts.

“Macroeconomic headwinds” are among the culprits, said Sally Wyatt, a food-service industry consultant who analyzes global consumer packaged goods at Circana. “That’s a compounding effect on top of the fact that we’re outpacing wage growth. So consumers… [make] very specific choices on optional items.”

Sugar prices across the industry are running above the national inflation rate, up nearly 10% from last year, according to the Century Foundation. Still, the National Retail Federation said 2025 is expected Record year in sugar sales Approximately $3.9 billion was spent on Halloween candy alone in the United States.

“Even as consumers face higher food prices, they continue to leave room in their budgets for chocolate and candy, which means the category is strong, vibrant and growing,” Carly Schildhaus, spokeswoman for the National Confectioners Association, told CNBC.

Most of the chocolate filling U.S. shelves this fall is made from cocoa beans purchased at record prices last December, when futures contracts rose above $12,000 a ton, experts said. Prices have since dropped to about $6,000, but that’s still more than double the pre-pandemic average.

A cocktail of rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, drought and crop diseases over the past three years has devastated the harvest in West Africa, which produces about 70% of the world’s cocoa. The result: the largest global cocoa deficit in 60 years, with supply falling half a million tonnes behind demand.

David Branch, industry manager at the Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute, said prices could stabilize but not fall next year as crop yields increase.

“It’s not just the cost of producing cocoa and other ingredients,” Branch told CNBC. “It is also a combination of labor, transportation, fuel and overhead [and] “Given all those factors and the rate of inflation we’re in, they’ve come up and haven’t actually gone down.”

Hershey said Thursday that tariff expenses will cost the company $160 million to $170 million this year. A “low double-digit” price increase was also announced in July, but executives said those increases were not tied to tariffs or Halloween prices.

Chocolate manufacturers lobbied the Trump administration tariff exemptions On cocoa and other agricultural imports, they argue that they have little ability to source these ingredients domestically.

As chocolate became more expensive, fruity, sour and breakthrough candies became more popular. More than half of shoppers said they plan to prioritize gummy candies for Halloween this year. NielsenIQ to create.

On average, the price per pound of chocolate rose nearly 14% in the 12 weeks ending Oct. 5, while sales volumes fell 6%, according to Circana data. Non-chocolate Halloween candies like Jolly Ranchers and Skittles saw sales increase by 8.3% during the same period.

Young adults, especially Generation Z, are also fueling growth in non-chocolate categories; is branching out into gummies, freeze-dried desserts, and TikTok-friendly flavor mixes.

“This is an experimental thing [aspect] because you can have it [non-chocolate items] “Chewy, sweet flavors, warm and sweet, spicy flavors,” Wyatt told CNBC. “Some candies create a huge taste explosion in your mouth. We’ve found that they’re popular among different groups.”

Chocolate manufacturers are responding in kind. Hershey has expanded its line of gummies, including its partnership with Shaquille O’Neal, and introduced ghost-shaped Twizzlers and mismatched “Trickies” Jolly Rancher gummies.

Mondelez InternationalThe maker of Cadbury and Toblerone said it is also prioritizing chewing gum in the U.S. market. But CEO Dirk Van de Put said on Tuesday’s earnings call that the U.S. market in particular “is slower than we’ve seen in a long time” and that the company’s promotional strategy earlier this year “did not give us the volume impact we were hoping for.”

Manufacturers are also experimenting with smaller bars, new fillings and cocoa-free options like cream- or nut-based candies to offset rising ingredient costs, Branch said.

“Companies need to be very aware that they can keep their prices at the same level. They can’t keep raising their prices and expect sales to continue to increase,” Branch said. “But customers’ appetite for chocolate has not disappeared. It will remain a pleasure that people will always have and can’t do without.”