#chocolate

A 100-piece bag of assorted Halloween candy now averages $16.96, up from $9.91 five years ago, a 71% rise, according to a 2026 candy price study cited by Farmers' Almanac.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show candy and gum prices up 7.7% in the 12 months to September 2026, against 3.7% for consumer prices overall. Poor harvests and crop disease in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana drove cocoa to extraordinary highs in 2024 and 2025. Wholesale cocoa has since fallen sharply, but the article explains that big manufacturers buy cocoa on contracts set months ahead, so some of this year's Halloween chocolate was made with pricier beans; sugar, packaging, transport and labor costs also feed in.

Its tips: compare the price per piece rather than per bag, mix chocolate with other treats, check store apps, and buy for the number of trick-or-treaters you actually expect.

A balanced UK food basket saw prices rise 2.7% in 2025 versus 4.5% for the standard basket, about 40% less inflation, according to new analysis from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), a UK climate think tank. It estimates a household spending about £70 a week in 2021 would have saved around £520 cumulatively by August 2026.

Chocolate was the single largest contributor to the gap (32%), and meat a further 22%, with beef and lamb alone nearly 15%; both meats averaged around 10% annual inflation over two years. ECIU senior economist Chris Jaccarini links the sharpest rises to extreme weather, from cocoa farms in West Africa to British livestock, and says a balanced diet offers "some protection" but is "not a silver bullet."