In a statement McVitie’s, which is owned by Turkish group Pladis, said it had reduced the recommended retail price (RRP) of Jaffa Cakes to reflect the smaller packs, adding that “pricing ultimately remains at the sole discretion of retailers”. “There is no change in the size, shape or weight of individual cakes in the McVitie’s Jaffa Cake range,” it added.
The RRP of a single pack of Jaffa Cakes has dropped from £1.15 to 99p, while a twin pack is £1.89 rather than £2.19. However, despite the lower headline price, both still equate to a small increase in price per individual cake.
A recent study by the Office for National Statistics found that 2,529 of the products it tracked had decreased in size over the past five years. ONS price collectors always check the size of an item as well as the price when they are gathering information for each month’s inflation figures.
Double Deckers and Picnic bars sold in multipacks are now 14% and 21.5% smaller respectively than those sold individually, while the overall pack price is unchanged. Cadbury, part of US food conglomerate Mondelēz, said the move brought the products into line with its other multipacks, which all contain smaller bars than those sold as individual products.
Cadbury said rising ingredient costs and the devaluation of sterling since Brexit were making food products more expensive to make. “We carry these costs within our business for as long as possible to keep our brands as affordable as possible,” it said in a statement. “However, like all food manufacturers, we sometimes have to make changes to ensure that people can continue to buy their favourite chocolate brands, at affordable prices.”
