CHOC-lovers are fuming after Cadbury reduced the size of its Dairy Milk Little Bars multipacks by a third.
New packs of four are being sold for £1.40, even though packs of six cost the same last month.
The change has been blasted by shoppers, including many parents who bought them as kids’ snacks.
One fumed on the Tesco website: “Advertised as new, only thing new is you get 4 instead of 6!! For the same price. Disgusting!”
A second said: “Stop reducing how much is in the packet and charging the same price!!!”
A third added: “Was a six pack now a four pack for the same price, a third less chocolate, unacceptable shrinkflation.”
It comes after Cadbury reduced packs of Freddos from five to four and Cadbury Dairy Milk multipacks were cut from nine bars to seven.
Cadbury said: “We understand the economic pressures that consumers continue to face and any changes to our product sizes is a last resort for our business.
“However, as a food producer, we are continuing to experience significantly higher input costs across our supply chain, with ingredients such as cocoa and dairy, which are widely used in our products, costing far more than they have done previously.
“Meanwhile, other costs like energy and transport, also remain high. This means that our products continue to be much more expensive to make and while we have absorbed these costs where possible, we still face considerable challenges
“As a result of this difficult environment, we have had to make the decision to slightly reduce the weight of our Cadbury Dairy Milk Little Bars multipacks so that we can continue to provide consumers with the brands they love, without compromising on the great taste and quality they expect.”
Dan Coatsworth, analyst at the investment firm AJ Bell, explained: “The cost of producing chocolate has gone up a lot in recent years, driving up prices and prompting firms to make products smaller.
“When production costs rocket, companies only have a limited range of options.
“They can pass on the costs to the customer through higher prices, which is difficult with a product like chocolate where people are often looking for a cheap treat.
“Another option is to reduce the size of the product in order to reduce the manufacturing cost for each bar of chocolate. Or they can try a combination of the two.
“As a last resort, companies may have to tolerate lower profit margins, especially if consumers refuse to tolerate price rises and stop buying.”
The British Retail Consortium said global cocoa prices are around three times higher than in 2022, after being badly affected by poor harvests in parts of Africa.
