Chocolate prices, sugar prices and El Niño: Why your easter egg is more expensive this year
The Easter bunny will be feeling additional pressure on its margins this year, thanks to a jump in the cost of its most popular confectionery.
The price of milk chocolate is 10 per cent higher this Easter compared to last year, according to commodities intelligence service Mintec.
"Global demand for cocoa is expected to exceed production, leading to a supply deficit in 2015/16," Corrina Hutchings, a market analyst at Mintec, said.
Similarly, sugar prices have jumped by 20 per cent month-on-month to levels not seen in over a year.
"The increase in prices is mainly driven by the recent decrease in estimates for 2015/16 global production which is forecasted at 172.1m tonnes, down two per cent year-on-year," Hutchings added.
The El Niño weather phenomenon, which has been steadily pushing up prices for agricultural commodities, is the main driver of all this.
Drier than normal weather has hit the production of crops, such as sugar and cocoa, in Australia, Asia and parts of Africa. Reduced supply has resulted in higher prices.
