Raising the bar How poor harvests have sent chocolate prices soaring

Whether it's a favourite bar, biscuit or indulgent hot drink, feeding a chocolate habit is becoming increasingly expensive. Prices were up 15.4% in the year to August, according to the latest cost of living snapshot, although overall UK inflation was unchanged at 3.8% last month.

- Zoe Wood

Alongside beef, butter and coffee, chocolate helped propel food price inflation back over 5% for the first time in 18 months.

As a result of poor harvests in west Africa, including in Ghana and Ivory Coast, cocoa now commands about $7,800 (£5,700) a tonne on international commodities markets, from below $3,500 two years ago. The price peaked at more than $12,000 at the end of last year.

Mondelēz, which owns Cadbury, expects annual profits to fall 10% owing to higher cocoa prices.

The squeeze has triggered multiple rounds of shrinkflation, with the Guardian revealing last week that tubs of Quality Street and Celebrations and even some Toblerone bars were smaller.