Easter egg hunt to find Brisbane’s cheapest chocolates

Skyrocketing cocoa prices means it’s set to be one expensive Easter, so we went on our own egg hunt in Brisbane to find the best value chocolates.

Unseasonal rainfall, tree disease and commodity price restraints have considerably reduced cocoa production across West Africa. Photo: Jan Sochor/Getty Images

Skyrocketing cocoa prices have shoppers paying more for their holiday treats, we went on an egg hunt around Brisbane to find the cheapest chocolates out so you don’t have to.

After searching top to bottom across Brisbane, Woolworths and Aldi took the prize for the cheapest packet of eggs, but affordable options were few and far between.

Why is it so expensive?

Rabobank Economist Paul Joules said huge rains and disease across Western Africa over the last 12 months had caused cocoa prices to surge up to four times compared to historical averages.

“What we see with cocoa is pretty much all of global production, over 70% is centred within two countries in West Africa, so Ivory Coast and Ghana,” Mr Joules said.

“We saw a lot of crop issues take place, we saw a lot of disease and all of these factors combined and it meant that we had a lower production in that key region and prices reacted very, very sharply.

“We are cooling off from those sort of record high prices that we saw a few months ago, but we’re still very, very high.”

Despite hopeful conditions for 2025’s yield, lacklustre fixed commodity prices set by the Ghanan and Ivory Coast governments meant farmers had little incentive to increase and expand production.

Despite improving conditions in West Africa, Rabobank Economist Paul Joules believed the price of Chocolate was not expected to drop anytime soon. Easter eggs in the production line of the Cadbury chocolate factory. Photo: SBS-TV.

Mr Joules said without more cocoa coming in, consumers were forced to either cop the brunt of high commodity prices or face a product with less cocoa.

“I think a lot of people were looking at those issues, specifically in West Africa, and they were questioning whether they were more systemic, as opposed to just an issue that might necessarily alleviate itself in a year or two,” Mr Joules said.

“What you tend to see is an increase in the price, which I think is being felt by the consumer.

“You can also see a reduction in the actual volume of cocoa within a product, which, again, I think has also been the case to some degree.”

Between shrinkflation, fancy packaging and different sizing companies attempts to absorb rising cocoa prices often mean consumers were paying more for less.

To cut through the noise we hunted Easter eggs across Brisbane and judged them on a price per 100g basis.

THE RESULTS:

Woolworths caramel or Milk Chocolate Easter eggs (150g)

The homebrand classic came in as the cheapest option we could find at just $3 for a packet of small eggs, or $2 per 100 grams.

Brisbane customers had clearly clued into the bargain as the eggs were already sold out in five separate Woolworth stores visited.

Aldi Milk Chocolate Solid Eggs (300g)

Aldi also offered customers the best bang for their buck with their solid Easter eggs putting you back $5.99 or $2 per 100g.

Red Tulip Mixed Chocolate Easter eggs Bag (916g)

With nearly a kilo of chocolate the value in IGA’s top Easter choice comes in bulk, the entire packet does costs $20.25 but that comes down to just $2.22 per 100g.

A general stock photo of Easter eggs on sale at the retail store Woolworths. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

Darrell Lea Speckled Easter eggs (120g)

A surprise addition from the famous chocolatier, these candy coated crunchy milk chocolate eggs were on special at Coles and were among the cheapest we could fine coming in at $3.60 or just $3 per 100g.

Aldi Filled Eggs (110g)

These bargain eggs are chocolate coated and filled with flavours like cornflakes, popcorn and orange only and cost $3.49 for a packet, or $3.17 per 100g.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Easter Chocolate Eggs Bag (243g)

The trusty Cadbury milk chocolate egg weren’t the cheapest option but they weren’t far off, a packet at Coles cost $8 but at just $3.29 per 100g the classic was a worthy contender for cheapest eggs in Brisbane.

Nestle Kit Kat Mini Easter eggs Bag (90g)

On sale for $3.50 a bag or $3.89 per 100g at Coles, these kitkat flavoured eggs were a welcome departure from the homebrand and plain chocolate that would usually dominate this list.