Your favourite chocolate bars might shrink thanks to Brexit, Cadbury warns

Britain’s divorce from the European Union may leave a bitter taste in the mouths of chocolate lovers. According to the head of Cadbury’s U.K. operation, Glenn Caton, the famous chocolate-maker may have to shrink the size of its products, or raise prices, all thanks to Brexit.

Caton said while the company is committed to staying in the U.K., new trade provisions written into Britain’s bid for independence from the EU could force the chocolate-maker to turn to “shrinkflation” — when products are made smaller, but sold for the same price.

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“There are obviously challenges and there are three things that we really care about in the context of the Brexit negotiations. First of all is making sure we have a stable and thriving U.K. economy,” Caton told the Guardian.

“If the economy is growing, all businesses benefit from that. The second is ensuring that there is no new, more complex regulation and that there is free movement of goods and minimal barriers to trade. Regulation impacts complexity, complexity impacts costs, as do trade barriers and tariffs.”

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Should Cadbury shrink the size of its famed Creme Eggs, or take away a row of cubes in the Dairy Milk bar, it wouldn’t be the first time the U.K.’s leave vote enraged chocoholics.

Shortly after the Brexit vote, Cadbury’s parent company  Mondelez International sparked outrage after shrinking the size of the Toblerone bar from 170 to 150 grams, arguing that the pound didn’t buy as much Swiss chocolate as it did prior to the vote.

It’s expected the so-called Brexit will lead to tariffs and other barriers to trade with the EU, the country’s biggest export market. Exports of goods and services account for about 27 per cent of the British economy, with almost half of exports going to the EU. The U.K. government is trying to bolster overseas trade with a five-year program designed to help 100,000 new exporters to sell goods and services abroad.

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The EU’s 27 leaders are set to meet on April 29 to agree their negotiating lines for Brexit talks. The meeting is a necessary step before the negotiations between Britain and the 27 remaining EU states can start formally. London said it would send in its exit notification on March 29.