It seems like everything costs more these days, and chocolate is no exception.

With the Easter season on the horizon, it’s the peak time for Prince Edward Islanders to buy the popular confectionery product.

Ross Midgley, program manager at the Culinary Institute of Canada in Charlottetown, said chocolate moves around a lot — perhaps to several places globally — before hitting the shelves of P.E.I. stores, and that travel impacts the cost. There have also been some blips in the supply chain, which are also driving up the price.

Midgley said the institute bought about $18,000 worth of chocolate when staff realized the prices were going to jump, and that will last them for a couple of years.

“We’re lucky, we can buy in bulk. We have a place to store it here properly,” he said. “So we bought a palette.”

Cocoa prices have dropped significantly over the last couple of years.

The benchmark price sunk to about $6,200 per tonne in mid-December after hovering at around $9,000 for much of 2025 because of low production caused by bad weather and disease.

Julie Monfette is the owner of Choco Gourmet, a chocolaterie that specializes in chocolate without nuts, dairy or peanuts.

As a specialized producer, she has seen a difference in the price of chocolate and doubts it will drop much in the future.

“I try to make the price of my chocolate affordable for most people,” she said. “Sure, you’re not getting maybe a Mars bar, but for a refined chocolate, it’s affordable.”

She said a bag of the product costs $3 to $4 more this year compared, and she goes through 15 to 20 bags of chocolate a week.

She raised the cost of her truffles by 25 cents, but said she feels her products are priced fairly. 

She currently buys from a local store, but is meeting next month with sellers in Quebec who can provide larger bags at a lower cost.

“We can manage … to make sure that we keep a nice quality for chocolate and not be too pricey at the same time,” Monfette said

No decrease in interest

Midgley said higher costs for chocolate on store shelves could mean that it was made when the beans were more expensive.

“You need to get that amount of money back for those beans,” he said. “Even though maybe today the [prices for] beans are down, it takes a little while for it to kind of catch up with itself.”

Despite prices, he said the Culinary Institute hasn’t seen a decrease in people buying chocolate desserts.

“It’s talked about like anything else, but it hasn’t curbed the appetite,” Midgley said.

“If you’re a chocolate person, don’t deny it — have that chocolate, but maybe don’t have it seven days of the week. But when you do, make sure it’s a great product and it’s going to satisfy the need.”