From Cocoa Shortages to Halloween Prices: How Rising Costs Affect North Dakota
Chocolate lovers, beware! With Halloween just around the corner, the price of candies and chocolates has spiked, and it’s looking like this trend will stick around.
About 70% of the world’s cocoa comes from West Africa, but for the past couple of years, changing weather patterns have really put a damper on cocoa bean production. This has caused companies to pay more for the cocoa they need, which means higher prices for us chocolate lovers.
For the third year in a row, cocoa harvests have come up short because of tricky weather and pests, and it’s affecting everyone. So, for folks in North Dakota, it’s likely we’ll be paying even more for our favorite chocolates. The International Cocoa Organization is predicting a shortfall of 374,000 tons of cocoa this season—quite a jump from last year’s 74,000-ton deficit.
Big names in chocolate, like Hershey and Cadbury, are hinting at possible price hikes because of the rising costs. This Halloween, Americans are expected to spend about $3.5 billion on candy, but we’ll probably notice that we're getting less candy for our money.
Still, there are some good deals out there if you look. Target has two 70-piece Hershey’s candy bags for $15 with a buy-one-get-one 50% off deal. Walmart’s offering 125-piece bags with Reese’s and KitKats for $15 as well, and Amazon has a 5-pound bag of candy favorites like Tootsie Rolls and Dots for $15.
So while prices may be creeping up, North Dakotans can still find some Halloween candy deals if we shop around a little!
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