Chocolate buns on the red list

Jacques, 50, stands in front of the business of a Paris chocolate manufacturer and lists his Easter purchases: chickens, rabbits, chocolate eggs … this year he chose « small formats » because « the prices have increased » because the cocoa prices have exploded. « It is more expensive than last year, I guess about 15 percent, » he told the AFP. Nevertheless, he does not want to do without his annual purchases for his family and his own taste buds: « It is a pleasure to buy cocoa. »

The “strong bond of the French on chocolate” does not only apply to Easter and Christmas (the two largest highlights of the year), but it is everyday all year round. This bond is « a great opportunity for the industry, » says Gilles Rouvière, General Secretary of the « Syndicat you Chocolat « in which small family businesses, larger SMEs and multinational corporations are merged.

This is all the more true when the Easter purchases are intended for three quarters for children, even if the purchases for adults grow faster than those for children.

The cocoa prices that were stable for about ten years rose from the beginning of 2023. On the London raw material market, a ton of cocoa in January 2023 was worth £ 1,900 (2,200 euros), a year later £ 3,800 and in mid -December 2024 reached a high with over 9,000 pounds. A price that had increased by 4.5 times within two years. However, prices have dropped again since the beginning of 2025 and at the end of March a ton cost around 6,200 pounds.

The reasons for the price increase in recent years? Unfavorable climatic conditions, such as heavy rains that lead to diseases in cultures. Dürre in West Africa, especially in the Ivory Coast and in Ghana, the cocoa, which delivers 70 percent of the global cocoa beans.

The price increase braked the demand and prompted the farmers to spend more resources for cocoa cultivation, which has led to relaxation of prices in the past few months, as reserves have been built for the first time in four years. The manufacturers of the Easter chocolate bought the cocoa months ago, sometimes at maximum prices.

Less chocolate buns in the garden?

A survey shows that the prices for Easter chocolate in retail are increased by an average of 14 percent compared to Easter 2024. The price of an average of 23 percent in the trading marks, although these are still cheaper than the national brands, as the consumer protection organization found on March 31 based on 78 products. This increase is in contrast to food inflation, which has dropped to less than 0.5 percent by 2024.

Oliviers Dauvers, expert in consumer questions, predicts a « bad year » for the sale of Easter chocolate in 2025: « Even if inflation is justified by the increase in cocoa prices », « part of the customers simply cannot keep up ».

A spokesman for the Mousquetaires Group (Intermarché, Netto) said that he offered the same products as last year without reducing the cocoa content. In the group’s shops, however, Easter items with a very low proportion of chocolate are also offered, such as: B. eggs filled with a milk cream.

He assures the AFP that the prices for these extraordinary purchases are not pressed up, since « most or less offers most or less the same ». The purchase of Easter items is « a mandatory passage for the parents, but we have to be as competitive as possible », otherwise customers would go somewhere else.

Most chocolate purchases take place the week before the Easter weekend. It is therefore too early to say whether fewer bells and rabbits will be seen in the gardens on Sunday.