Britain’s top-selling Christmas chocolates have shrunk in size this year – but prices have risen by as much as 33.3% in some cases, The Grocer can reveal.
Quality Street tubs have shrunk by 8.3%, from 600g to 550g. Despite this, their pre-promotional shelf price has risen by 16.7% year on year in Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, up from £6 to £7 [Assosia 52 w/e 8 September 2025].
In Asda, however, the 550g tubs are cheaper than the 600g ones were last year. The old 600g ones were £6 and the new 550g ones are £4.68 in the retailer.
Terry’s Chocolate Orange has shrunk 7.6% from 157g to 145g – yet its pre-promotional price has risen by 33.3% in Tesco, from £1.50 to £2. Meanwhile, its price has risen by 28.2%, from £1.95 to £2.50 in Sainsbury’s; and by 25%, from £2 to £2.50, in Morrisons.
Toblerone has shrunk by 5.6% this year, from 360g to 340g. The larger version of the Christmas staple had a pre-promotional price of £6 in Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons in 2024. The smaller version is now 16.7% more expensive in Morrisons, at £7, and 12.5% more expensive in Sainsbury’s, at £6.75. It has stuck at £6 in Tesco.
Cadbury Roses 750g tin has been replaced with a 6.7% lighter 700g version in Morrisons. Yet, the price is up 17.9% from £14 to £16.50 in the retailer.
The cost of cocoa
This comes after cocoa commodity prices hit record-breaking highs in 2024, triggered by a poor crop in west Africa, caused by extremely dry weather, and compounded by the spread of diseases such as cacao swollen shoot virus in cocoa plantations across Ivory Coast and neighbouring Ghana.
The cost pressure has already led big-name chocolate manufacturers, including Mondelez International and Mars Wrigley, to shrink the weight of their everyday chocolate lines.
“Cocoa prices rose sharply last year, reaching a 45-year high,” a spokeswoman for the Food & Drink Federation stressed.
“Alongside other rising costs, such as energy prices, and regulatory pressures like increases to National Insurance Contributions and National Minimum Wage, manufacturers’ production costs rose by a third between January 2020 and February 2025.”
“In some cases, food manufacturers will have had to make changes to product sizes to continue offering shoppers the products they love at reasonable price points,” the spokeswoman added.
Harvir Dhillon, economist at the British Retail Consortium, said chocolate prices were ”largely determined by manufacturers”.
A Nestlé spokeswoman said: “Each year we introduce a new Quality Street range with formats, sizes, weights and rrps based on a range of factors including the cost of manufacturing, ingredients and transport and the preferences of our customers and consumers.”
“We think our 2025 range and pricing is competitive with a good variety of choice for Quality Street fans. Final prices are at the discretion of individual retailers.”
A ‘last resort’
A spokesman for Toblerone and Cadbury owner Mondelez International said making changes to its products was a “last resort”.
“However, as a food producer, we are continuing to experience significantly higher input costs across our supply chain, with ingredients such as cocoa and dairy, which are widely used in our products, costing far more than they have done previously.
“Meanwhile, other costs like energy and transport, also remain high… As a result, we have had to make some carefully considered changes to the recommended retail price and product size of some Cadbury and Toblerone products so that we can continue to provide consumers with the brands they love, without compromising on the great taste and quality they expect.”
Tesco and Sainsbury’s declined to comment. Morrisons, Asda and Terry’s had not responded by the time of publication.
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