Who Really Pays for Your Halloween Candy? (Cocoa Crashed 70%)

Cocoa crashed almost 70% from its record. Hershey raised its prices about 12% anyway — and its gross margin jumped from 30.5% to 45.3%. So who's keeping the difference? We follow the money from West African cocoa farms to the chocolate makers' own financial filings. CHAPTERS 0:00 Cocoa crashed. Candy didn't. 0:49 Part 1: The crash 2:55 Part 2: Where your chocolate really comes from 5:41 Part 3: What happened in the candy aisle 8:04 Part 4: Follow the money 9:38 Part 5: It's not just Hershey 10:58 Part 6: The part that's fair to say 12:32 Part 7: Who really pays SOURCES U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Monthly Labor Review, "Why is candy so expensive these days?" (September 2026): https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2026/art... Global price of cocoa, monthly (IMF), via FRED: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PC... Consumer Price Index, candy and chewing gum (BLS), via FRED/ALFRED: https://alfred.stlouisfed.org/series?... USDA Economic Research Service, Food Price Outlook (September 2026): https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-product... The Hershey Company, second-quarter 2026 results, Form 8-K and Form 10-Q (SEC EDGAR). Lindt & Sprüngli, half-year report (July 21, 2026) and ad hoc announcement (September 29, 2026), lindt-spruengli.com. National Retail Federation, Halloween 2026 spending survey (September 22, 2026), nrf.com. BLS Consumer Price Index, August 2026; BLS research on product downsizing; BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey; BLS The Economics Daily. Percentage changes since January 2020 and January 2025 are calculated from the official BLS and IMF monthly series. Music: "Documentary" by leberch (Pixabay). Sound effects: Universfield (Pixabay). Stock footage: Pexels.