- Easter egg commodities – cocoa, sugar, milk, aluminium and wood pulp – collectively 11 per cent cheaper
- But confectionery inflation stands at 9.4 per cent, meaning households still face much higher Easter Egg prices
The cost of Easter egg ingredients has dropped 11 per cent in the last year, but Aussie households will still face higher prices in the shops.
We analysed a basket of commodities used in the production of Easter eggs – cocoa, sugar, milk, aluminium (used for foil) and wood pulp (used for cardboard) – and found that the spot prices of these key ingredients have collectively fallen 11 per cent since mid-March 2022.*
However, while this might make for a cheaper Easter 2024 if the trend continues, households will not feel the benefit this holiday season. Instead, they are likely to face significantly higher prices for Easter eggs than they did in 2022, with Australian chocolate confectionery prices up 9.4 per cent in the past year.*
Josh Gilbert, Market Analyst, comments: “While manufacturers can enjoy some cost relief this year, unfortunately families loading up on Easter eggs will be shelling out significantly more than they did in 2022. Commodity prices are far more volatile than the prices consumers pay in shops and there is often a delay in the trickle down effect.
“It feels as if it is one thing after another for Australian households, but, the good news is that this commodity price fall should feed through to prices on the supermarket shelves in the coming months. Coupled with the belief that inflation has likely peaked and we may see some relief in inflation numbers by the end of the year. As these types of price falls feed into the economy, households should finally start to get some cost-of-living relief from rising prices.”
eToro’s Easter Egg Index uses a simple weighted average, with data taken on 15th March 2023.
The 11 per cent fall in ingredients prices stands in sharp contrast to the 34 per cent cost rise experienced by this basket of commodities in the 12 months prior.
The past year’s fall can be attributed largely to lower milk and aluminium prices. The price of milk on the commodity market is down 36 per cent since last year, driven by farmers increasing supply in response to higher prices, whilst aluminium prices are feeling the impact of China increasing the global supply.
In contrast, sugar prices have remained high with the largest global producer Brazil experiencing weather disruption as well as competition to turn sugar into ethanol from high energy prices.
- Data sourced from Refinitiv on Wednesday March 15 2023
- Confectionary price data taken from Bloomberg Q4 AU CPI reading
About the data
Data sourced from Refinitiv on Wednesday March 15 2023. Index was simple weighted average of price increases for: 1) Cocoa ICCO US$/metric tonne. 2) Raw Sugar ISA US$c/lb. 3) Non-Fat Grade A Milk CME US$c/lb. 4) Aluminium 99.7 per cent LME US$/metric tonne. 5) Wood pulp NBSK Helsinki US$/metric tonne.
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