The cost of a classic Easter is going up – and for many families, it's getting harder to celebrate without spending more than planned.
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00:00The cost of a classic Easter is going up, and for many families, it's getting harder to celebrate without spending more than planned.
00:08A new report by consumer group Witch has revealed that Easter eggs have seen some of the steepest price rises on supermarket shelves.
00:16In some cases, chocolate treats are now up to 50% more expensive than they were just a year ago, despite many being smaller in size.
00:24Take the white Twix Easter egg at Tesco, it was £5 last year, now it's £6, but it's actually lighter.
00:31Which says that works out at a 47% increase per 100 grams, meaning you're paying more and getting less.
00:39And it's not just that, across the board prices are rising for familiar favourites from Cadbury, Nestle and Mars.
00:45In fact, chocolate has risen in price almost four times faster than the average food and drink item in UK supermarkets.
00:51So what's driving the jump? The answer lies thousands of miles away in West Africa, where most of the world's cocoa beans are grown.
00:58Droughts and extreme weather have hit cocoa crops hard in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, slashing supply and pushing global cocoa prices to record highs.
01:07That's led to higher manufacturing costs for chocolate makers, and those costs are now reaching UK shelves.
01:13Producers say they're doing their best to keep prices fair, but Witch is urging shoppers to check price per gram, shop around for better deals and wait for post-Easter discounts to get the best value.
01:25But it's not just sweet treats taking a toll. The cost of cooking a traditional Easter Sunday roast is climbing too, from the meat and veg to the energy used in the oven.
01:34From the start of April, the typical annual energy bill rose by £111, thanks to a change in the Ofgem price cap.
01:42This brings the average household bill to £1,834, which has calculated that if you roast a chicken every Sunday for a year in a standard four kilowatt electric oven,
01:53it'll cost around £56 in electricity alone, before you even factor in the chicken, potatoes or trimmings.
02:02And on top of that, there's fish and chips. Many Brits still follow the tradition of eating fish on Good Friday, but this year it's far from cheap.
02:09One Wiltshire chippy says their energy bills have jumped 50%, and frying oil, fish and potatoes have all gone up too.
02:16They've already raised prices once, and say another hike could be on the way.
02:21Whether it's an Easter egg, a Sunday roast, or your Good Friday chippy tea, the cost of living crunch is making even the nation's favourite foods feel like a luxury.