Cocoa shortage makes Maltesers more expensive than steak

A 126g box of Maltesers white “more to share” chocolates now costs £4 at Sainsbury’s, the equivalent of £31.74 a kilo, which is more expensive than the same store’s matured sirloin steak at £31.33 a kilo.

According to trade publication The Grocer, Maltese’s have gone up in price by 16 per cent in recent weeks. The 93g packs of the chocolates went up from £1.61 to £1.75 in Asda during October, and then again to £1.88 only five days later.

A small 30g bag of the chocolates at Morrisons is priced at £1.20 (£40/kg).

Chocolate prices overall have gone up 15 per cent in a year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The price of cocoa hit a record-breaking $12,906 last year after extreme weather in west Africa and diseases, such as cacao swollen shoot virus, cut global output by more than 14 per cent.

The cost of cocoa butter, which is used in the production of white chocolate, rose even faster.

Many household favourite brands including Galaxy, M&Ms and Revels have noticeably shrunk portion sizes but kept prices the same.

In October it emerged that McVities had to label its famous Club and Penguin bars as "chocolate flavoured" because they contain so little cocoa. 

McVities also had to change the famous tagline of the packed lunch favourite Club bar, which originally read "If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit, join our Club”. It now says: "If you like a lot of biscuit in your break, join our Club".

The manufacturer of the bars Pladis said in a statement: "We made some changes to McVitie's Penguin and Club earlier this year, where we are using a chocolate flavour coating with cocoa mass, rather than a chocolate coating."

Pladis sought to assure its customers, adding "Sensory testing with consumers shows the new coatings deliver the same great taste as the originals."