Choc horror: Why 'flavour' bars and small packs are here to stay

Chocolate-flavour bars and smaller packs appear here to stay despite the fall of cocoa costs to a near three-year low and a 20% drop in the sugar price.

It was last year, during near-record-high cocoa prices, that customers began noticing smaller packs and the phrase "chocolate flavour" bar, as the cocoa content dropped to such a level that manufacturers could no longer describe their products as chocolate.

Read more: Real-life Wonka explains chocolate crisis

Toffee Crisp and Blue Riband bars became "chocolate flavour" in December, as they didn't contain the minimum 20% cocoa solids and 20% milk solids required to be described as milk chocolate in the UK.

That followed McVitie's Penguin and Club in October, while KitKat White and McVitie's white digestives underwent the rebrand before 2025.

What now for the 'chocolate flavour' bar?

No changes appear to be in the works.

Of the companies that replied to Sky News, none said they were making product or recipe changes.

"There are currently no plans to make further recipe or weight changes to our individual confectionery products," Toffee Crisp, Blue Riband, Quality Street and KitKat maker Nestle told Sky News.

"In recent years, we have taken every possible step to minimise the impact of high cocoa prices and keep our products affordable.

While recent cocoa prices are encouraging, the market remains volatile. We are keeping a close eye on developments."

The Penguin, Club and White Digestives maker, Pladis, said it had no changes planned.

Terry's, Mars, which owns Celebrations, and Mondelez, which owns Cadbury, did not respond to Sky's queries about the fall in cocoa prices and the changes they'd made.

What had shrunk?

In the past year, eagle-eyed shoppers spotted several products weighed less. Celebrations became 150 grams lighter from 2021 to 2025 while becoming more expensive.

So too did Cadbury's Dairy Milk, shedding 20g in the four years, and Toblerone, which was found to be 20g lighter in September.

Terry's Chocolate Orange shed 12g from 2021 to 2025 while increasing in price. Quality Street tubs went from 600g to 550g at Christmas.

Multipacks also appeared minus a bar or two.

A Freddo multipack went from having five bars to four, as did Cadbury Fudge bar packs. KitKat two-finger milk chocolate bars also shrank from 21 to 18 bars.

Change to come?

The cocoa drop comes too late for cheaper chocolate this Easter, though a price fall in some chocolate may be seen at Christmas, as wholesale cocoa, a key component of chocolate, dropped to a low last seen in August 2023.

"For the smaller chocolatiers... who have a higher cocoa percentage, then I think we will be able to reduce the price, particularly of those higher cocoa content products," said Dominic Simler of UK manufacturer Playin Choc, when asked about the likelihood of a Christmas-time price drop.

"I think it is likely if these prices stay stable and sustained at this kind of level."

While the price of cocoa has been falling since May last year, many suppliers will be tied to contracts that don't reflect the recent lows.

As cocoa costs had been volatile, manufacturers locked in future contracts for clearer planning.

It will be mid-2026 before North Yorkshire makers Whitakers Chocolate will be buying for later this year and 2027, said Gemma Whitaker.

Ms Whitaker added that the knock-on effect of the war in the Middle East will push prices up.

That all means the price drops have come too late to pay less this Easter, as manufacturing and buying will be based on higher cocoa costs.

And that's not all

Plus, the multinational producers tend to have a lower cocoa content, around 20%, versus a producer like Playin Choc, whose chocolate is about 40% cocoa.

That means they're less exposed to cocoa price rises or falls

"If you've only got 14 or 20% cocoa in your product, like the big seven chocolate companies supplying supermarkets have, then actually, their biggest cost is not cocoa, by a long way. Their biggest cost is sugar, white sugar and milk, milk fat, essentially," Mr Simler said.

"So for those guys, I don't know what they'll do."

London sugar futures, a way of measuring wholesale sugar costs, however, are about 20% cheaper than this time last year after surpluses in India and expected higher production in Brazil.

Chocolate this Easter

This year, Easter egg prices are up 9% on 2025, according to industry data from market research provider Worldpanel.

A typical Easter egg costs £3.27 in 2026, it said.

Analysis from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) said the average price of popular Easter chocolates has risen by two-thirds in three years, with some eggs more than doubling in price due to extreme weather driven by climate change.

What's happened with cocoa?

Cocoa prices are more than 60% lower than a year ago, around $3,150 per tonne compared to $12,218 in April 2024, due to oversupply in the key growing areas of Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana.

Climate change had seriously damaged cocoa growing, which led prices to soar.

In response, producers such as Whitakers developed new products, such as coated ginger, Brazil nuts and a selection of fondants, that are less reliant on cocoa.

The Iran war effect

While cocoa prices have remained lower, producers are now grappling with higher transport costs and face costlier electricity and packaging bills.

"Rising oil and gas prices have a knock-on effect across the entire supply chain, increasing the cost of production, packaging, and distribution," said Ms Whitaker.

"In addition, many packaging materials used within the confectionery industry – including plastics, films and foils – are either directly derived from oil or require significant energy to produce. As a result, any disruption to global energy markets can lead to increased packaging costs."

(c) Sky News 2026: Choc horror: Why 'flavour' bars and small packs are here to stay