Easter: why chocolate is more expensive this year

Maud Descamps edited by Gauthier Delomez 06:35, April 16, 2022

This is a moment awaited by lovers of chocolate in all its forms.

The Easter weekend begins, and to enjoy it, you will have to spend more.

If you've shopped before, you may have noticed that the prices of some chocolates have gone up this year.

Blame it on rising commodity and energy prices.

The chocolate sector has in fact not escaped the phenomenon that affects all economic sectors.

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In this surge in commodity prices, there are first cocoa prices up this week.

But, above all, there is the price of the cardboard used for packaging, which has increased by 50% over the last six months.

Some chocolatiers have therefore begun to pass on these increases in stores, while others are cutting back on their margins.

Small businesses forced to cut back on their margins

For Frédéric Chambeau, president of the Confederation of Chocolate Confectioners, the soaring energy prices are of greater concern to the profession.

"In the short term, and probably in the medium term, we are waiting to see if the situation stabilizes at these levels," he explains at the microphone of Europe 1. "We are cutting back on the margins, we are working on it" , adds the president of the confederation.

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He specifies that this situation "still depends on the size of the companies, on many things. But there are some who have seen their energy contract triple, even sixfold. This is enormous for a company of VSE-SME size, to see the price of energy increase sixfold. It's very complicated."

The Easter period is crucial for chocolatiers since some make up to 50% of their annual turnover in just a few days, with an average basket of around 20 euros per family.