"As a recipe developer and cookbook author of two baking books, recently I've been noticing a steep price increase of one particular sweet treat every time I go grocery shopping. In fact, it is one of seven Costco products that now cost a lot more than they used to - I'm talking about none other than chocolate. It turns out I'm not the only one detecting this trend."
"Over on Reddit, one commenter states, "Now at Costco the 2kg bag of chocolate chips retails for $41.99 CAD or $29.53 USD. Two years ago that same bag was about $17.00 Canadian. [Over] 40 [CAD] dollars for a bag of chocolate chips is mind baffling." This commenter also remarks how their anxiety has been spiking lately due to surging chocolate prices, saying, "I just feel like a bakery won't be able to survive without chocolate.""
"So why exactly is chocolate getting more expensive? First of all, in West Africa, the biggest supplier of cocoa, poor weather has diminished cocoa crop yields. Crops have also succumbed to disease and it takes cocoa trees years to grow and bear cocoa pods. So, when the world's demand for a luxury commodity exceeds its supply, its price rises. As is such, cocoa prices have surged. In fact, 2025 has already seen record chocolate price inflation."
Retail chocolate prices have risen sharply, with large Costco bags of chocolate chips increasing from about $17 CAD to over $40 CAD in two years. Bakers and small chocolate businesses report anxiety and financial strain as chocolate becomes more costly. West African cocoa production has fallen because of poor weather and crop disease, and cocoa trees require years to mature, constraining supply. Global demand for cocoa has exceeded supply, driving cocoa price surges and record chocolate inflation in 2025. U.S. tariffs on cocoa products contributed to volatility before being lifted, and manufacturers like Hershey have raised prices in response.
Read at Tasting Table
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]