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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Henry Saker-Clark, PA City Reporter & Sophie Buchan

Dairy Milk to shrink chocolate bars - but cost to remain the same

It's sad news for chocolate lovers as one of your favourite bars is about to shrink in size.

And to make matters worse, it won't become cheaper.

The maker behind the much-loved bars, Cadbury, will reduce the size of Dairy Milk sharing bars by 10% due to the impact of soaring costs=.

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Parent company Mondelez blamed rising inflation in the production of its chocolate as it reduced the size of its larger bars from 200g to 180g.

Despite it shrinking, its price will remain the same, selling for £2 at most retailers.

US parent company Mondelez said the 'shrinkflation' – reducing the size of a product but keeping its price the same in order to improve profitability – was the first by Dairy Milk in a decade.

In 2012, a 49g bar was reduced only a few grams to 45g but the price remained at 59p. Meanwhile, a year earlier the 140g chocolate bar was reduced in size to 120g.

It comes as the cost of living crisis continues with many seeing their food and energy bills rise - some as much as £100 extra per month.

Last week, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation struck a new 30-year-high of 6.2% for February however this statistic is expected to grow again and soar beyond 8% in the coming months.

The figures for February showed that food inflation increased by 5.3% year-on-year, with milk, fresh meat and coffee reporting particular sharp increases.

A Mondelez spokesman said: "We’re facing the same challenges that so many other food companies have already reported when it comes to significantly increased production costs – whether it’s ingredients, energy or packaging – and rising inflation.

"This means that our products are much more expensive to make.

"We understand that consumers are faced with rising costs too, which is why we look to absorb costs wherever we can, but, in this difficult environment, we’ve had to make the decision to slightly reduce the weight of our medium Cadbury Dairy Milk bars for the first time since 2012, so that we can keep them competitive and ensure the great taste and quality our fans enjoy."

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