Valentine’s Day chocolate prices have shot up – and this is why

The cost of Valentine’s Day has rocketed because of climate change, experts have warned.

Prices of a large chocolate bar is up 14% — a jump attributed in large part to climate change.

Warmer temperatures in Africa’s cocoa belt are pushing the price of cocoa up, experts have warned.

Inflation and supply chain disruptions have also contributed to rising in chocolate prices.

Simon Dunn, owner of Simon Dunn Chocolates, said: “I have been massively affected by climate change as temperatures rise, because that obviously affects supply chains, quantities, prices. I am now paying three times what I was for chocolate just two years ago.

“Fortunately [my business is] run by just myself and my wife so our overheads are very low, but we have had to increase our own prices which has slowed down sales. This is very risky but inevitable. Most customers understand, though, as they have seen on the news the rising price of chocolate, which has helped”.

Soaring temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns in West Africa are wreaking havoc on crops, significantly squeezing global supply and driving up the price of sugar, cocoa and chocolate.

This year’s cocoa shortage follows a similar crash in production last year which saw cocoa prices rose 400% to $12,218 (£9,862) a ton after, rising to a new record of $12,605 (£10,175) per ton in December 2024.

A report by the international development charity Christian Aid showed rising temperatures and erratic rainfall has hammered cocoa harvests in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, where more than 50% of global cocoa is grown.

Amelia, a 24 year-old cocoa grower in Guatemala, said: “My plantations have been dying due to the lack of water, and in terms of how it’s affecting me, there is no food for my family. The cocoa trees are dying, which are usually very resilient. I’m actually not worried that it ‘may’ happen (climate related crop loss) it’s happening already.”