Rising cocoa prices may lead to less chocolate this Halloween

Halloween may be a little less sweet this year. Soaring cocoa prices could cause many families to rethink their candy choices.

Trick-or-treaters may notice a change in their candy bags this year, with less chocolate and possibly more chips and other candies.

Sylvain Charlebois, director of Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Lab, says chocolate prices have more than doubled this year.

“Cocoa prices have gone up 119% since last year. I don’t think trick-or-treaters will like to hear this, but my guess is that we’ll see fewer households giving out chocolate because of the prices,” he says.

Charlebois says another issue trick-or-treaters and shoppers may face this year is smaller chocolate bars and fewer in the package, not only because of the spike in cocoa prices, but also the increase in sugar prices.

He advises that if you want to take advantage of current deals, it’s best to shop around.