This Valentine’s Day, romantics looking to indulge in traditional lovemaking gestures with roses and chocolates may need to prepare for a more expensive celebration.
This is because cocoa and sugar prices are rising. Since the start of the year, there has been a 40% increase in the cost of cocoa globally, marking an all-time high, CNBC reported.
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The price increase is mainly attributed to suboptimal weather conditions, including the repercussions of the El Niño cycle and disease-related challenges. “This led to a decrease in production and created a shortage of cocoa supplies on the market,” Sergey Chetvertakov, principal research analyst for cocoa and sugar markets at S&P Global, told the outlet.
An atypical drought in India and Thailand, the world’s two largest sugar exporters after Brazil, has weakened the harvest and pushed global sugar prices to their highest trade values in 12 years, above 28 cents per pound . The Washington Post reported.
U.S. retail chocolate prices rose 10% in 2023 — about three times the rate of consumer inflation — even before cocoa prices continued to rise after the first of the year, according to Investopedia.
Fast forward to this Valentine’s Day and a representative from NielsenIQ, which has reported an 11% increase in chocolate prices over the past year, told CNBC they are “the highest we’ve seen in years.”
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Despite rising costs, Americans are expected to spend $25.8 billion during the holidays, and candy will be the most popular gift for 60% of Valentine’s Day shoppers, according to the National Retail Federation, according to The Associated Press .