'Shrinkflation' in the chocolate industry: What to expect this Easter

This year's Easter celebrations are set against a backdrop of record-breaking cocoa prices, with everyone from consumers to the entire chocolate industry feeling the pinch.

As Easter approaches, stores are stocking their shelves with chocolate enthusiasts' favourite sweet treat, the cocoa-based confection at the centre of this festive season.

However, 2024's Easter celebrations are set against a backdrop of record-breaking cocoa prices, with everyone from consumers to the entire chocolate industry feeling the pinch.

"As cocoa prices soar to record highs, the chocolate industry's response has been to subtly shrink product sizes or reformulate ingredients, a trend that hits consumers' pockets and palates," wrote Sylvain Charlebois, director of Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab, in an email to CTVNews.ca.

"This Easter, indulging in your favourite chocolate treats means navigating the bitter realities of shrinkflation and skimpflation, getting less for the same price."

Thanks to a complex mix of environmental, economic and market dynamics, Charlebois said the price of cocoa is currently around 40 per cent higher than its previous record high, set 47 years ago.

Cocoa contracts — the world benchmark for the global cocoa market — last week reached an unprecedented $7,060 per metric ton, doubling since November and surpassing the record highs of $3,830 in 2011 and $5,110 in 1977.

"It's quite spectacular," Charlebois told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on Tuesday. "I can't recall seeing another commodity go through a round like this. Basically, cocoa is more than three times more expensive than just two years ago."