Why is chocolate getting more expensive?
- Published
If you're keeping a close eye on prices when your family goes to the shops or supermarket, you might have noticed that chocolate is more expensive than it used to be.
The Office for National Statistics, who are the UK's national body for facts and figures, say that the price of chocolate has risen by over 17% in the year to October 2025.
And in recent weeks, some chocolate has become even more expensive.
So what's going on in the world of chocolate to make this happen?
Maltesers are one of the chocolate products found to have gone up in price recently
The price of food has been getting more expensive across all supermarkets this year, but the price of chocolate has been increasing more than other items.
In the ONS figures from October 2024 to October 2025, the price of food products have gone up 4.8% overall.
But the price of chocolate has risen by 17.5%, much more than the average, and is the second greatest price rise across all food products in the ONS data, behind beef and veal.
One example of this is the price of Maltesers, which the grocery news site The Grocer reported has risen by quite a bit in just one week.
At Asda, a 93g pack of Maltesers rose from £1.61 to £1.88 over six days in October.
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The main ingredient in chocolate is cocoa, which comes from the beans of the cacao tree.
Countries like Ivory Coast in West Africa are leading producers of cocoa due to their climate.
But research groups like Climate Central and charities like Christian Aid say that climate change is one of the reasons why cocoa is becoming more difficult to grow in these areas.
These cacao beans are grown in Liberia, a country in West Africa that has lush tropical rainforests
Lots of extreme weather has led to a global shortage of cocoa, with diseases like the cacao swollen shoot virus affecting production too.
The amount of cocoa made worldwide is down by more than 14%.
Because there's less cocoa available, the price of cocoa produced is higher - meaning that companies have to pay more to make their chocolate.
So the price of chocolate is predicted to be high for a while, and it's likely to increase even more.
