{"id":194038,"date":"2025-06-18T09:28:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T09:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/194038\/"},"modified":"2025-06-18T09:28:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T09:28:11","slug":"chocolate-price-rises-hit-record-as-food-costs-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/194038\/","title":{"rendered":"Chocolate price rises hit record as food costs grow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Faarea Masud<\/p>\n

BBC Business reporter<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Chocolate prices in the UK rose at the fastest pace on record in May as the overall cost of food continued to climb, official figures suggest.<\/p>\n

The main rate of inflation remained at 3.4% in the year to May, the highest for more than a year. <\/p>\n

However, food prices grew for the third month in a row, as some economists speculated that businesses were passing on recent increases in employer National Insurance payments to customers.<\/p>\n

The rise, along with a higher minimum wage, came into effect in April, after Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the increases in last October’s Budget aimed at raising \u00a325bn.<\/p>\n

Food prices have risen for three months in a row and, at 4.4% in May, are the highest since February last year. <\/p>\n

Ruth Gregory, deputy chief economist at Capital Economics, suggested that the increase “perhaps provides a tentative sign that firms are passing on more of April’s rise in National Insurance Contributions in their selling prices”.<\/p>\n

Chocolate in particular has been affected by bad harvests in cocoa-producing regions, as bad weather hit Ghana and Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n

Chocolate stocks fell to all-time lows earlier in the year, making the price surge.<\/p>\n

In the year to May, chocolate prices rose by 17.7%, according to the ONS. This is the fastest pace since 2016 when the ONS’s records began.<\/p>\n

Rising food inflation was partially offset by cheaper travel prices in May.<\/p>\n

The Office for National Statistics said that the cost of plane tickets fell compared with a large rise last year “as the timing of Easter and school holidays affected pricing”.<\/p>\n

The overall pace of price rises in May was the same as in April, following a revision by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and means that inflation remains at its highest for more than a year.<\/p>\n

Inflation is above the Bank of England’s target rate of 2% but it is not expected to cut interest rates when it meets on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the inflation rate, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “This government is investing in Britain’s renewal to make working people better off.”<\/p>\n

But shadow chancellor Mel Stride called the latest inflation figures “deeply worrying for families”.<\/p>\n

“Labour’s choices to tax jobs and ramp up borrowing are killing growth and stoking inflation – making everyday essentials more expensive,” he said.<\/p>\n

Kris Hamer, director of insight at the British Retail Consortium, which represents the sector, said: “Since October, retailers have warned that the costs from the chancellor’s Budget could not be fully absorbed and would inevitably lead to higher prices for shoppers.”<\/p>\n

‘Young families now price-check’<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Coffee stand owner Zayna Omer says young families are spending less on food<\/p>\n

Zanya Omer, owner of coffee stand Harbour Grind in Whitstable told the BBC that business is “good” but she has noticed consumers’ budget are squeezed.<\/p>\n

Customers are not buying as much food from her, opting instead to bring packed lunches when they take a day trip to the Kent seaside town.<\/p>\n

“Most people here are retirees, so they have income,” Ms Omer said. <\/p>\n

“But the young families, you do notice with them they will price check first or compare prices along the strip, and then come back.”<\/p>\n

Ms Omer said hidden costs – such as card machine fees which cost her about 10p extra per coffee sold – have led to her offering cash customers a small discount.<\/p>\n

For now, she will keep her prices as they are. “I’d go out of business if I increase my prices,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Faarea Masud BBC Business reporter Getty Images Chocolate prices in the UK rose at the fastest pace on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3090],"tags":[51,1700,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-194038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114703664073957256","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}