There will be fewer chocolates to go round Christmas gatherings this year, with tub sizes of Roses, Heroes and Celebrations shrinking by up to 14% compared with last year.
Tubs of Cadbury Roses and Cadbury Heroes on sale across the major mults have shrunk by 13.6%, from 550g to 475g, analysis by The Grocer shows [Assosia 52 w/e 25 August 2026].
Despite the reduction in weight, pre-promotional prices of Roses and Heroes in Tesco and Morrisons have remained stable at £7, meaning shoppers face paying up to 15.8% more per kg for the treats this year.
In Tesco, 475g tubs of Roses and Heroes are currently on a Clubcard promotion at £5.25, compared with a Clubcard price of £5.95 for the larger 550g tubs last year. Despite the lower shelf price, Clubcard shoppers are still paying 2.1% more per kg than they did for the larger tubs a year ago.
In Sainsbury’s, the 475g tubs of Roses and Heroes cost £6.50, around 7% less than the 550g tubs available last year. However, on a per kg basis, prices have climbed by 7.5%.
Meanwhile, Celebrations began introducing 500g tubs alongside its 550g format last year. This year, however, the 550g tubs have disappeared from major mults entirely.
Tesco and Morrisons have replaced the 550g tub with the smaller 500g version, a 9.1% reduction in weight. While the pre-promotional price has remained flat at £7 in both retailers, the smaller pack size equates to a 10% increase in the price per kg compared with last year.
Unlike rival brands, Quality Street has maintained a 550g tub size across major mults, Assosia data shows.
Falling cocoa prices
The rises come despite cocoa prices falling off historic highs seen over the past two years. Cocoa futures have declined by 19% to £4,250 per tonne compared with a year ago, data from Expana shows.
The fall in prices was largely due to a sizeable global supply and demand surplus of cocoa built up in 2025/26, according to Andrew Moriarty, senior manager for cocoa analysis at Expana.
“There were a number of factors resulting in this recovery,” he said. “Firstly, the adage of ‘high prices are cure for high prices’ holds true. Second, the record high prices in 2024 and 2025 resulted in significant demand destruction, while at the same time resulting in higher cocoa production across the globe.”
Soaring cocoa prices in late 2024 led major chocolate manufacturers, including Mondelez International and Mars Wrigley, to shrink the weight of many chocolate lines last year.
Others, including Pladis and Nestlé, have reduced the cocoa content of some products, meaning they no longer contain enough to lawfully be called chocolate.
Given the investment required to reformulate products and the fact cocoa prices remained significantly higher than historical averages, there was “little incentive” for manufacturers to revert to previous recipes, said Moriarty.
It was therefore “unlikely that reformulations would be reversed”, he predicted, adding there was “unlikely to be any substantial changes” to Christmas chocolate recipes this year.
“Much of the Christmas 2026 production has already been priced in as the cocoa products will have primarily been contracted a few months ago when prices were even lower than today.”
Morrisons and Tesco declined to comment, while Mondelez, Mars, and Sainsbury’s had not responded by the time of publication.
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