Halloween Candy Is Pricier Than Ever This Year — but Shoppers Still Aren't Skipping the Candy Aisle
Chocolate prices have jumped as much as 15% amid a cocoa shortage, and sales data show shoppers buying less by volume — even as total Halloween spending is projected to hit a new high.
Trick-or-treaters may notice something different in their bags this year: smaller portions, more off-brand substitutes, and a lot more expensive chocolate.
Candy prices have climbed sharply ahead of Halloween, driven almost entirely by cocoa. One analysis cited by Entrepreneur, citing PwC, puts chocolate prices up roughly 15.5% this year, following extreme weather in the cocoa-growing regions of Ghana and Ivory Coast that has squeezed global supply. September consumer price data show candy and gum costs up around 8% year over year, well ahead of the roughly 3.7% increase for other grocery items.
Spending up, volume down
Americans aren't cutting candy out of their shopping carts, exactly — but they are buying less of it. The National Retail Federation projects shoppers will spend $4.1 billion on Halloween candy this year as part of $13.5 billion in total Halloween spending, both record highs in dollar terms. But scanner data analyzed by industry trackers show candy unit volumes are running behind last year's pace heading into the holiday, meaning the higher dollar totals are being driven by price increases, not by people buying more candy.
SINCE COVID, HE HAS SEEN A DROP IN SALES BECAUSE OF THE INCREASE IN PRICING
One candy company president, quoted in a Spectrum News report, said he has watched sales slip since the pandemic as chocolate and candy prices have climbed, even as overall demand for Halloween as a holiday keeps growing. It marks at least the third time in four years that candy volume sales have slowed heading into the holiday, according to industry analysts.
Shoppers looking to save are leaning on a few familiar tricks: buying mixed-candy variety bags instead of single-brand chocolate, switching to non-chocolate options like gummies and hard candy, which have seen smaller price increases, and waiting for last-minute discounting closer to October 31.
Major chocolate makers have not announced further price hikes beyond what's already on shelves, but with cocoa futures still elevated and the growing season in West Africa not expected to fully recover for at least another year, retailers and candy companies are bracing for the squeeze to carry into next Halloween as well.