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Bloomberg
Giving out treats this Halloween will be a lot more expensive than usual. The cost of candy and chewing gum jumped 13.1% in September from last year, the most ever, according to US inflation data. This comes just before what’s arguably candy’s most important holiday — Halloween.
The culprit is expensive sugar. US refined sugar prices have soared this year after drought hurt beet-sugar crops in northern states. Chocolate has also been hit by inflation in recent months, partly because of higher costs for chocolate makers. Supply chain chaos caused by the pandemic and then the war in Ukraine have been spilling over into cocoa markets.
Sweets aren’t the only thing seeing a jump. US consumer prices rise by more than forecast to a 40-year high in September.
The core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy, increased 6.6% from a year ago, the highest level since 1982.