Cadbury owner Mondelez warns UK consumers they could see more shrinkflation and price rises

Glenn Caton, head of Northern Europe for Mondelez, which owns the British confectionary groupy, says the company may have to take further measures to offset costs following the post-Brexit slump in the pound

Mondelez on Friday announced that it had invested £75m in four new production lines at the iconic Bournville factory in Birmingham (Getty Images)

Britain’s exit from the European Union has already left a bitter taste in the mouths of chocolate lovers.

A fall in the value of the pound since the UK voted to leave the EU in June, coupled with the rising prices of some commodities, has been blamed for the reduction in pack sizes, known as shrinkflation, where prices remain the same as portion sizes get smaller.

Now, Mondelez international, the company which cut the weight of Toblerone bars by widening the gaps between the chocolate peaks last year, is warning that sweet-toothed shoppers may have to brace for more shrinkflation and prices rises in the months to come.

Speaking to the BBC’s Today Programme, Glenn Caton, head of Northern Europe for Mondelez which also owns British confectionary group Cadbury, said the company may have to take further measures to offset costs following the post-Brexit slump in the pound.

“First thing to say is we never compromise on taste and quality. We also make sure that we are consistently looking at how to make things more efficiently so that that we can drive out our costs instead of passing them on to consumers,” Mr Caton said.

“But, inevitably if there are strong changes in exchange rates and input costs, you have to say 'how do we offset those as a business', and occasionally that we do have to do that through pricing and re-sizing," he added.

However, Mr Caton said he didn’t have any particular product in mind and the company will “manage the challenges as they come on a case-to-case basis.”

Separately on Friday, Mondelez announced that it had invested £75m in four new production lines at the iconic Bournville factory in Birmingham.

The Cadbury Dairy Milk tablet lines produce up to eight tonnes of chocolate an hour, making 900,000 200g bars or 1.2 million 110g bars per day.

“This £75m investment we’ve made means our Bournville factory can now favourably compete against manufacturing facilities in other European markets and retain the majority of Cadbury Dairy Milk and Cadbury chocolate production right here in the UK,” Mr Caton said in separate press release.