Why is chocolate so expensive in Croatia?

Croatia has found itself near the top of the list when it comes to chocolate price increases in Europe, with costs rising by a staggering 25.3 percent over the past year.

This places the country seventh out of all EU nations, and well above the European average.

Data shows that Poland experienced the highest jump, with chocolate prices soaring by 39.1 percent, followed closely by Estonia with 37.9 percent.

In contrast, Austria saw a 13.4 percent increase, while Italy’s prices went up by just 12 percent.

But why is chocolate hitting Croatian wallets so hard?

The answer lies partly in the global market for cocoa, the key raw material in chocolate production.

At the end of 2022, cocoa was trading at around 2,500 US dollars per tonne. By May 2023, this rose to 3,000 dollars. In April 2024, it skyrocketed to a record 12,000 dollars per tonne, before dropping back slightly to 8,000 dollars in July 2025.

The main causes behind this price spike include crop disease and extreme weather conditions in key cocoa-producing regions of West Africa. These disruptions led to a global supply shortage and triggered a sharp rise in cocoa prices.

Croatia’s largest chocolate producer, Kraš, told RTL Direkt that they were forced to adjust prices in June 2024 due to rising cocoa costs.

However, the company stressed that they absorbed further increases internally to minimise the impact on consumers.

“Since cocoa is the basic raw material of the entire industry, in June 2024 we were forced to adjust prices, while we absorbed all further increases through our own operations,” Kraš stated.

While it is understandable that high cocoa content dark chocolate would become more expensive, the same steep price rises have been seen in milk chocolate, which contains far less cocoa. This has left many consumers wondering whether the price hikes are justified.

Last year, RTL carried out a comparison of prices for the same brand of chocolate sold in different countries. A bar cost 6.29 euro in Croatia, while in Germany the same product was just 3.79 euro – a massive 66 percent difference.

Although cocoa prices have begun to fall on international markets, analysts point out that other factors are keeping chocolate prices high. Rising energy costs, labour expenses, and transport fees continue to put pressure on production costs across Europe.

For now, it seems chocolate will remain a luxury item for many Croatians, with little sign of prices returning to previous levels any time soon.