Candy by the numbers
Branch said that customers can expect to pay as much as last year for Halloween chocolate this year – if not more – up until Valentine’s Day. Although cocoa prices have fallen since the end of 2024, most producers are selling candy manufactured from the beans they bought during that peak. And costs in other sectors, such as energy and packaging, have also driven up costs.
Halloween candy in Brunswick, ME, in October 2021.
Halloween candy in Brunswick, ME, in October 2021. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald/Getty Images
But at the core of it, it’s the beans.
Skyrocketing prices of cocoa beans have driven up costs in the chocolate industry. Worldwide cocoa futures rose a whopping 178% in 2024 from a year prior, after a 61% increase in 2023, according to FactSet. The problem traces back to Ghana and the Ivory Coast, kra16at which together produce 60% of the world’s cocoa and have been slammed by poor harvests due to climate change.
