Chocolate prices are falling. So why aren’t chocolate prices falling?

by Inside China Business [3-13-2026].

Cocoa prices hit all-time highs in 2024 and 2025. Producers in West Africa sold hundreds of thousands of tons to buyers in China, and poor growing conditions led to record prices for Western chocolate companies.

But over the past year, cocoa prices have plunged by 70%, as weather improved. Yet chocolate candy prices have increased, despite collapsing input costs.

"Shrinkflation" and "Skimpflation" were deployed by candy companies in Europe and the United States. Smaller packaging, and the substitution of cocoa butter with inferior oils, resulted in booming profits even while cocoa prices soared.

Now that input costs have fallen, chocolate companies have maintained those strategies, and are more profitable than ever.

Closing scene, Chongsheng Temple, Dali