Industrial or homemade, bought at the supermarket or at the neighborhood bakery,
Easter eggs
, along with bagels, are the traditional products that should not be missing during Holy Week.
But the truth is that prices varied significantly from last year to now and the situation is not affordable.
A survey carried out by the consulting firm Focus Market, which compared the same brands, quantity and/or weight as the previous year, determined that prices had
“a wide distortion”
, even well above inflation.
What increased the most was
the smallest Easter egg
(17 grams), which had an increase of 375% compared to the previous year and went from $120 to $570. This was followed by the box of mini eggs x 24 units (85 grams ) which rose from $850 to $3,950 (365%) and the well-known Surprise Egg or Pink Surprise of 150 grams, which with a year-on-year increase of 303% is today available in supermarkets for $12,500.
The remaining Easter eggs saw
an average increase of over 200%
.
In supermarkets, medium eggs of between 100/150 grams start at around $8,500, although chains are already offering various promotions such as 50% or 2x1 discounts.
A product that gained a lot of notoriety during the pandemic among small entrepreneurs and was consolidated later is the
stuffed egg
, made up of a base of half a chocolate egg and with a filling of your choice such as dulce de leche, hazelnut, cream, etc.
According to Focus Market, these products increased to a lesser extent than standard eggs: "Their year-on-year increase is 253%, since in 2023 a 500-gram stuffed egg had an average price of $3,400, and this year it has an average price of $3,400. 12,000”.
Make them at home
In the search for the cheapest egg, a new dilemma arises: is it better to make them at home or buy them ready-made?
“It's much cheaper to make them, whether it's with average chocolate.
The difference is abysmal
,” Gabriela Otero, owner of the “Vuela Alto” cotillion, responded confidently.
However, she states that this year “it sold much less than previous years.”
“Generally, sales were down.
People who buy to sell almost didn't buy, they made do with molds they had.
And as for chocolate, they look for prices, they find out, but even making them seems expensive to them: the molds are not that expensive,
but the chocolate and what goes inside, candy and so on are
,” he explained.
As for prices, a 500-gram chocolate that previously cost $2,000 today costs $6,000.
Regarding the molds, a medium-sized one previously had a value of $200 and now it went to $500. This is the value of a single side, but usually two are purchased so as not to have to use a single mold for both parts of the mold. egg.
The kit to make homemade eggs: with the value of a 150 gram egg.
you can get six.
Photo Juano Tesone
“Just this week it started selling.
Yesterday a lady spent $10,000.
She took chocolates, icing, molds and some candies to put inside.
She told me what she was going to do with the boys so she would entertain them and have something to give to the whole family.
And it is true, because with what she bought she made 10 10-centimeter eggs,” she remarked.
According to Gabriela, if we wanted to imitate in our homes the famous 150 gram eggs that cost $12,500, with a kilo of chocolate ($10,000) and two number 12 molds ($1,000) we would make 6 Easter eggs of that same size.
The difference is clear, even if we want to add icing (the jar costs $2,000) and buy candies to put inside (the 330 grams cost $2,200).
The two reasons for the increase in chocolate
Rodrigo Bauni, chocolatier and founder of the artisanal chocolate shop Purocacao, explained to
Clarín
what were the reasons for the exponential increase in eggs, which were above the interannual inflation which was 276.2% in February.
“If we base ourselves on the CPI, we had an increase in the entire structure of more than 200%. And to that we must add that before
the input was in the official and subsidized dollar
, and now it is no longer subsidized, so there was an additional increase.
We have not increased in relation to what the increases were for us for this season
”, She assured.
The increase in cocoa internationally and the devaluation impacted prices.
Photo Juano Tesone
Bauni details that with respect to the international increase, the
cocoa
commodity went from approximately 2,700 dollars per ton to 8,500, the current price.
“Although the products we use at Purocacao are not
commodity
, this time this also affected quality cocoas.
We have a huge increase that has not yet been carried over to this Easter season.
I suppose the increase will come after Easter, because it does not resist the value
”, He remarked.
Furthermore, he warned that if this trend continues, “cocoa is getting closer and closer to being a luxury product.”
“This is due to problems in Africa and Malaysia (which are the main producers in the world) due to diseases, lack of investment and several other factors,” he listed, in addition to adding to the list of causes the El Niño effect, which caused the decrease in production.
The price of the Easter bagel
According to the Focus Market survey, Easter bagels also suffered increases.
The most notable was in the
artisanal bagel
, which is sold in bakeries.
Last year, a one-kilo bagel cost $2,000 and went to $8,000, an increase of 264%.
“The 500 gram bagel had an increase of 233%, since last year it cost $1,200 and this year it went to $4,000.
Finally, the smallest increase with 229% is for
the closed-pack industrial bagel
sold in supermarkets, which last year cost $699, and this year its price is $2,300,” they noted.
ACE