ChocolateHQ

Chocolate prices in the shops

Cocoa's world price more than quadrupled and then fell most of the way back. This page holds what consumer prices of chocolate did over the same months across the European Union, from the official price index, up to August 2026. It measures movement. It does not say what a bar costs.

Monthly to August 202627 countriesJanuary 2023 = 100

What an index can and cannot tell you

  • These are index numbers. They show how far prices have moved since January 2023 and say nothing about what a bar costs, here or anywhere.
  • The category is chocolate, cocoa and cocoa-based food products together, so it includes cocoa powder and more than bars.
  • A country with a higher figure has had a bigger rise since January 2023. It does not have dearer chocolate: levels cannot be compared between countries.
  • The cocoa line is a world price in US dollars and the shop lines are prices in each country's own money, tax included. Exchange rates, tax changes, sugar, milk, energy, wages and retail margins all sit between them.
  • The series ends in the last month published, and detailed categories are published later than the headline inflation figure.

Chocolate against everything else

Set January 2023 to 100. By August 2026 the European Union’s index for chocolate, cocoa and cocoa-based products stood at 141.3: a rise of 41%. Food and non-alcoholic drinks as a whole stood at 110.0 and all consumer prices at 111.7. Chocolate rose about 4 times as far as food in general.

It has not come back down. The highest month in the series is July 2026, at 141.4, and over the last 8 published months the index has stayed between 140.1 and 141.4. That is a plateau at the top, not a retreat.

Chocolate prices rose far faster than food prices, and have stayed up

Consumer price index, January 2023 = 100

  • Chocolate and cocoa products
  • Food and non-alcoholic drinks
  • All consumer prices

Scroll the chart sideways to see the most recent years.

0501001502020202120222023202420252026

Source: Eurostat, harmonised index of consumer prices (prc_hicp_minr), updated 2 October 2026. Rebased to January 2023 by ChocolateHQ.

Show these figures as a table
European Union consumer price indices, January 2023 = 100
PeriodChocolate and cocoa productsFood and non-alcoholic drinksAll consumer prices
January 202088.480.085.1
February 202088.280.485.3
March 202088.680.785.7
April 202088.381.785.8
May 202088.781.985.9
June 202089.081.686.2
July 202088.880.686.0
August 202088.880.485.7
September 202088.280.185.7
October 202088.580.485.8
November 202088.480.585.6
December 202088.380.185.9
January 202188.880.986.1
February 202188.881.186.4
March 202189.081.287.1
April 202189.681.887.6
May 202189.582.087.8
June 202189.781.988.1
July 202190.181.888.1
August 202189.982.088.4
September 202189.582.088.8
October 202189.682.389.6
November 202189.582.890.0
December 202189.583.690.4
January 202290.484.890.9
February 202290.385.691.7
March 202290.886.793.9
April 202290.888.894.7
May 202292.190.395.6
June 202293.091.496.5
July 202294.092.396.7
August 202295.493.597.3
September 202296.394.698.5
October 202297.496.599.9
November 202297.597.6100.0
December 202298.198.499.8
January 2023100.0100.0100.0
February 2023101.2101.9100.8
March 2023103.7103.3101.7
April 2023104.7103.4102.4
May 2023105.4103.8102.4
June 2023106.6104.0102.7
July 2023107.3103.9102.6
August 2023107.5103.5103.1
September 2023107.3103.5103.4
October 2023107.8103.8103.5
November 2023107.8104.2103.1
December 2023107.4104.2103.3
January 2024109.0105.1103.1
February 2024109.1105.0103.7
March 2024110.7104.9104.4
April 2024112.1105.3105.0
May 2024112.9105.5105.2
June 2024114.3105.6105.4
July 2024116.1105.5105.5
August 2024117.8105.5105.6
September 2024118.9105.8105.5
October 2024120.1106.5105.9
November 2024120.8106.8105.7
December 2024120.7106.7106.0
January 2025123.0107.5106.0
February 2025125.8108.0106.5
March 2025129.4108.4107.0
April 2025132.2108.8107.5
May 2025135.3109.3107.5
June 2025136.7109.4107.8
July 2025138.2109.6108.0
August 2025139.5109.7108.2
September 2025139.3109.5108.3
October 2025140.3109.7108.5
November 2025139.7109.7108.3
December 2025139.2109.8108.5
January 2026140.6110.6108.1
February 2026140.1110.9108.7
March 2026140.1111.0110.0
April 2026140.8111.3111.0
May 2026140.3111.0111.1
June 2026141.0110.5111.0
July 2026141.4110.2111.3
August 2026141.3110.0111.7

The shelf against the commodity

On the same footing, the world cocoa price reached 410.3 in January 2025, about 4.1 times its January 2023 level. It then fell to 123.7 by March 2026 and stood at 227.1 in August 2026.

Two things show in the chart. The shelf never rose anything like as far as the commodity: cocoa is one cost in a bar among several, and manufacturers buy it months ahead. And the shelf did not fall when the commodity did. While cocoa lost 70% of its peak value, the chocolate index went on rising and then held. The record on the cocoa price cycle sets out why a commodity spike reaches the wrapper late and leaves it later.

Cocoa quadrupled and fell back; the shop price climbed and stayed

Index, January 2023 = 100

  • World cocoa price
  • EU chocolate consumer prices

Scroll the chart sideways to see the most recent years.

01002003004005002023Jul 232024Jul 242025Jul 252026Jul 26

Sources: World Bank Commodity Price Data, release of 2 October 2026, for the cocoa price in US dollars; Eurostat (prc_hicp_minr) for consumer prices. Both rebased by ChocolateHQ. See the cocoa price series.

Show these figures as a table
World cocoa price and European Union chocolate consumer prices, January 2023 = 100
PeriodWorld cocoa priceEU chocolate consumer prices
January 2023100.0100.0
February 2023101.1101.2
March 2023105.0103.7
April 2023109.9104.7
May 2023113.0105.4
June 2023121.0106.6
July 2023129.4107.3
August 2023132.1107.5
September 2023137.8107.3
October 2023138.5107.8
November 2023153.8107.8
December 2023160.7107.4
January 2024167.9109.0
February 2024212.2109.1
March 2024270.6110.7
April 2024371.8112.1
May 2024287.8112.9
June 2024315.6114.3
July 2024270.6116.1
August 2024262.6117.8
September 2024248.9118.9
October 2024254.2120.1
November 2024301.1120.8
December 2024393.9120.7
January 2025410.3123.0
February 2025376.3125.8
March 2025308.4129.4
April 2025311.1132.2
May 2025343.1135.3
June 2025320.6136.7
July 2025281.3138.2
August 2025290.1139.5
September 2025268.3139.3
October 2025227.1140.3
November 2025214.1139.7
December 2025220.6139.2
January 2026189.7140.6
February 2026137.0140.1
March 2026123.7140.1
April 2026129.8140.8
May 2026158.8140.3
June 2026167.9141.0
July 2026214.1141.4
August 2026227.1141.3

A dollar commodity price and a consumer price index in euros and other currencies are different kinds of number. The chart compares their shapes. It does not show a margin, and nothing here measures who kept what.

Country by country

Each member state’s chocolate index in August 2026, with January 2023 as 100, and the month in which it stood highest. In 7 of 27 countries the latest month is the highest yet.

Chocolate and cocoa products: consumer price index by EU member state, August 2026, January 2023 = 100
CountryIndex, August 2026Rise since January 2023Highest monthIndex then
Romania187.187%August 2026187.1
Poland162.963%August 2026162.9
Estonia159.760%September 2025166.6
Greece151.852%August 2026151.8
Malta148.949%June 2026149.9
Germany147.548%June 2026149.3
Bulgaria144.344%June 2026149.2
Croatia143.143%September 2025151.6
Spain142.743%October 2025147.5
Denmark138.739%July 2025142.3
Hungary138.639%July 2025146.3
France137.838%August 2026137.8
Sweden137.137%July 2025153.1
Cyprus136.537%August 2026136.5
Finland136.136%July 2025139.9
Ireland136.036%April 2026137.0
Portugal135.636%August 2025138.5
Latvia135.135%August 2025146.2
Lithuania134.835%August 2026134.8
Netherlands134.835%March 2026137.5
Austria134.234%August 2025134.7
Luxembourg133.534%August 2026133.5
Czechia128.428%January 2026136.3
Slovenia126.527%August 2025137.5
Belgium126.226%July 2026128.1
Italy117.518%December 2025123.4
Slovakia115.516%November 2024126.8

This orders countries by how much their chocolate prices have risen, not by how dear their chocolate is. Differences reflect each country’s taxes, currency, basket and retail market as well as cocoa.

What this does not settle

  • Whether makers or retailers kept the difference. Margins by product are not published, and sugar, milk, energy, packaging and wages rose over the same years.
  • How much of the change happened inside the product instead: smaller packs, more filling, less cocoa. A price index is meant to count a smaller pack as a price rise, but it cannot see a recipe. See why your chocolate bar changed and the sample of labels in what is in chocolate bars.
  • Anything outside the European Union. The United Kingdom and the United States publish their own indices, which are not held here.

Where these figures come from

Publisher
Eurostat — Harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP), ECOICOP version 2, monthly indices (prc_hicp_minr)
Release used
Published 2 October 2026; retrieved 9 October 2026.
Covers
The European Union of 27 member states as an aggregate, and each member state, for chocolate; the Union aggregate only for food and for all items. Monthly, January 2015 to August 2026 where published.
Units
Index numbers. Published on the publisher's reference base; shown here rebased to January 2023 = 100.
Licence
CC BY 4.0
How it is revised
Published monthly, about two weeks after the month ends for the headline rate and later for detailed categories. Figures can be revised. The classification changed with the January 2026 data, when this category replaced the narrower 'chocolate' class.
Next check here
20 November 2026. Monthly.

What was changed

  • Three categories taken: CP01185 (chocolate, cocoa and cocoa-based food products), CP01 (food and non-alcoholic beverages) and the all-items total.
  • Each series divided by its own January 2023 value and multiplied by 100. Rebasing changes the level of an index and not its movement.
  • Rounded to one decimal place for display and download; the raw extract keeps the publisher's figures.
  • No seasonal adjustment, no conversion to prices in money, no averaging across countries.

What these figures cannot tell you

An index of price change. It says how much prices moved, never what a bar costs, and levels cannot be compared between countries.

The category is chocolate, cocoa and cocoa-based food products together: bars, boxed chocolates, spreads counted under it and cocoa powder. It is not chocolate bars alone.

Price collectors follow a product of fixed quantity and quality, so a smaller pack at the same price should count as a price rise. How completely each statistical office captures pack-size and recipe changes is not something the series reports.

Member states differ in their baskets and in tax changes, so a country's line reflects more than the cost of cocoa.

The latest months for detailed categories can be missing or provisional.

Download

Reusing them: Source: Eurostat, harmonised index of consumer prices, dataset prc_hicp_minr, updated 2 October 2026. Rebased to January 2023 = 100 and rounded to one decimal place by ChocolateHQ; Eurostat is not responsible for the rebased figures.

Related: cocoa price history, cocoa futures, what is in the price of a bar. All data.