Axios: “The bottom line: Halloween 2025 may be one of the most expensive yet for chocolate lovers.”
DC insider Michael Whatley has falsely claimed grocery prices are down, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. New reporting from Axios highlights how North Carolina families are continuing to see costs spike – this month, on Halloween candy.
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Axios: Halloween scare: Candy costs are soaring
Kelly Tyko | October 9, 2025
- Trick-or-treaters may get fewer sweets this year as high cocoa prices haunt the candy aisle.
- Why it matters: Cocoa prices have more than doubled since early 2024, pushing the Consumer Price Index for candy and gum up 8% and changing how people fill their candy bowls, per new reports from Wells Fargo, Empower and the National Confectioners Association.
- 57% of Americans say higher prices are changing how much they spend on Halloween candy, according to Empower’s “Trick-or-Treat-onomics” report.
- U.S. sales of Halloween chocolate and candy reached $7.4 billion last year — a 2.2% increase over 2023 — according to the National Confectioners Association.
- What they’re saying: “Candy on shelves now was made from cocoa bought at record prices earlier this year,” David Branch, sector manager at Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute, told Axios.
- “People may be ghosting on treats as rising chocolate prices are creeping into Halloween traditions,” Rebecca Rickert, head of consumer insights at Empower, told Axios.
- 38% of consumers are hunting for sales or coupons, Empower’s survey of 2,000 adults found, with 22% buying early to spread costs.
- The bottom line: Halloween 2025 may be one of the most expensive yet for chocolate lovers.
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