The Farmer’s Share of Halloween Treats is Getting Smaller

According to the National Retail Federation, Americans are forecast to spend $3.9 billion on candy this Halloween.  That figure is higher than the $3.6 billion reported last year and $3.1 billion spent in 2023.

The American Sugar Alliance said the retail price of the items they surveyed increased an average of 19%.  But the cost of sugar in each item increased by an average of 33%.

The cost of planting, cultivating, harvesting, and processing the sugarbeets and sugarcane that become the real sugar in your favorite Halloween treats has skyrocketed, and the prices American sugar producers receive for their sugar has decreased.

For example, a ten-ounce bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups cost $5.49 last year, with the farmer’s share at 21 cents.  This year, the cost is $6.49, and the farmer's share is down to 13 cents.

In two years, the prices of beet sugar and cane sugar have fallen 42 and 24 percent, respectively. 

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