Not only at Christmas

Italians do not give up chocolate, but the price race changes consumption

High cocoa prices increase by double digits and household expenditure rises by 8.4 per cent. But while purchased quantities drop by 7 per cent the high-end and private labels gain market share

by Manuela Soressi

23 December 2025

Gli aumenti dei costi del cacao non fanno rinunciare gli italiani al cioccolato, soprattutto a Natale

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Giving up chocolates and pralines under the Christmas tree? For Italians, no way, despite the fact thatchocolate is one of the foodstuffs most affected by the cost of living. In October, according to ISTAT, prices on the shelves were 10% higher than in the same month of 2024, when chocolates and pralines had already risen by 7%, while snacks and bars were up 15% (source: Circana), in a market, that of the large-scale retail trade, worth EUR 1.7 billion, half of which was generated by bars and bars (source: Niq).

However, the festive season seems to bring a breath of fresh air to chocolate producers, for whom the last few years have been anything but easy.

Perfect storm over cocoa

The cocoa industry has experienced an unprecedented crisis: growing global demand has had to contend with reduced harvests due to extreme weather events, plant diseases and ageing crops. The shortage of raw material, combined with financial speculation, caused quotations to soar, which tripled in three years, reaching an all-time high in 2024. In 2025, the trend was deflationary but levels remain double those of 2022/23 (source: Areté).

"The first signs of the 2025 festive season are showing a greater tolerance for price increases, confirming the power of ritual habits, the importance of gifts and the appreciation for limited editions offered by many companies," says Marco Pellizzoni, commercial director of YouGov Shopper.

Yougov: most frequent purchases

Chocolate manufacturers reacted by first amortising a large part of the costs, then by making 'defensive' choices (such as 'trimming' packaging and simplifying product ranges) and finally by adjusting prices, which according to YouGov rose by an average of 17% year-on-year.

This is not to say that Italians have given up chocolate: in 2025 they bought less (-7%) but more often (+1%), increasing by 8.4% the average expenditure per family to over 72 euros per year. And the number of consumers also increased slightly to 93% of Italians. According to Unione Italiana Food, in December alone, Italians consumed 18 thousand tonnes of bars and pralines. In short, the market has held. But it has changed.

Top of the range and private label

Today, only 3% of chocolate products cost less than EUR 10/kg compared to 24% in 2021, while the range with prices above EUR 20/kg has risen to 47% compared to 17% five years ago, says an analysis by Altroconsumo.

the first price segment suffered, while the premium segment and private-label products, such as ours, fared better and recorded significant growth also in quantity," explains Francesca D'Auria, category manager for various genres at Coop Alleanza 3.0, which saw an average 18% increase in December in revenues generated by chocolate sales. "These results are also the result of the renewal of the offer, aligned to new consumer trends, such as the focus on health, which rewards protein and sugar-free chocolate.

According to a Circana analysis,private labels generated more than half of all value growth in the segment with increases that were almost double that of industrial brands.

Dubai Chocolate and Angel Curls

And then there are the fashion phenomena. The one of 2025 was the Dubai Dubai Chocolate, which now seems ready to pass the baton to the Angel Curls, a chocolate with a heart of very thin strands of Turkish candyfloss (pişmaniye), wrapped in pistachio cream. At Lidl the 150g bar is sold for EUR 4.99 compared to EUR 3.99 for the 122g bar of Dubai Chocolate.

It is on the top end of the market that companies are focusing to support retail growth. To make chocolate an 'accessible luxury', they are (also) focusing on experience. That means not only events and immersive museums, but also single-brand points of sale, where consumers can compose their own bag of pralines and bars, but also have new experiences, as happens in the Chocolate bars inside the 39 Lindt shops opened in Italy.

Between limited editions and calendars

The limited editions that are so popular with choco-lovers, such as the special edition of Baci Perugina with orange crystals or the winter edition of Ritter Sport, with three bars containing festive flavours (such as Speculoos spiced biscuits), are also ephemeral experiences, because they are offered for a limited period.

There is also a product category that lives for only one month: they are Advent calendars, which, year after year, gain popularity even among adults. The confirmation comes from the increase in the offer, with a score of proposals available in the large-scale retail trade and signed by the main brands in the sector.

A mouth-watering cadeau to arrive with sweetness at 2026, a year that promises to be historic for Italian chocolate. After a long and hard-fought process, Gianduiotto di Torino should finally be awarded PGI status, the first wrapped chocolate in the world to obtain this recognition.

Events and Museums in the Spotlight

The world's largest experiential museum dedicated to the food of the gods has been opened in Perugia: it is the City of Chocolate, inaugurated at the beginning of November in the over 2,800 square metres of the city's historic covered market by Destinazione Cioccolato and supported by Invitalia. "We want to make chocolate a driver of innovation and territorial development and make Perugia a permanent tourist destination on the theme, enhancing culture, sustainability and international supply chains," explainedVasco Gargaglia, president of Destinazione Cioccolato Srl, the benefit company that brings together companies, trade associations and the regional finance company Gepafin Sp. Also in Perugia, the "Lab-Luisa Annibale Base", which offers tasting sessions and cooking classes on cocoa and chocolate, has kicked off at Perugina's first production site.

The first to experience them were the over one million visitors to the 31st edition of Eurochocolate, Italy's most popular chocolate festival, which has already announced the dates for 2026. A year that will open with Chocomodica and Cioccolatò in Turin, the city that has been home for the past year to the Museum of Chocolate and Gianduja, a format devised by Belgian Eddy Van Belle (shareholder and former chairman of the Puratos Group, ed.) and now present in 15 cities around the world, where objects and technologies help people discover and experience the magic of these products.