LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Confectionery maker Cadbury cut the size of its Dairy Milk sharing bars by 10% - but not the price.
In a not-so-sweet hit to hard-pressed consumers struggling with soaring inflation and higher prices, parent company Mondelez slashed the size of its larger bars to 180g from 200g. The bars are still being typically sold at £2 despite the size reduction.

US-based Mondelez said the shrinkflation - reducing the size of a product but keeping its price the same in order to improve profitability - was the first by Dairy Milk in a decade.

Last week, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation struck a new 30-year-high of 6.2% for February and is expected to soar beyond 8% in the coming months. Britons face the biggest fall in living standards since records began, the Office for Budgetary Responsibility said last week.

The figures for February showed that food inflation increased by 5.3% year-on-year, with milk, fresh meat and coffee reporting particular sharp increases.

"We're facing the same challenges that so many other food companies have already reported when it comes to significantly increased production costs - whether it's ingredients, energy or packaging - and rising inflation. This means that our products are much more expensive to make," a Mondelez spokesman said.

"We understand that consumers are faced with rising costs too, which is why we look to absorb costs wherever we can, but, in this difficult environment, we've had to make the decision to slightly reduce the weight of our medium Cadbury Dairy Milk bars."

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