By Colleen Rothe

I know we’re on the tail end of Valentine’s Day and approaching the Easter season, so chocolate in our markets is abundant and “on sale.”

But has anyone else noticed that those sales are ridiculous lately – especially on traditional chocolate items? I’m talking the super giant Hershey bars at 2 for $1, Almond Roca at 2 for $4, and Cadbury Eggs at 4 for $1 (either regular or caramel flavor).

I knew something was up – sure enough. The makers who control 75 percent of the chocolate market in the United States, Hershey, Nestle, Cadbury and Mars, are being sued for price fixing.

This past week a federal judge ruled that the lawsuits alleging price fixing in the U.S. chocolate industry may proceed and gave the plaintiffs additional time to try to prove their claims.

District Judge Christopher C. Conner denied most of the motions to dismiss filed by the chocolate companies, except for some claims under state consumer laws.

He said the plaintiffs have provided enough evidence to allow claims to antitrust violations to proceed and granted them time to tie in the actions of the companies’ foreign subsidiaries to the jurisdiction of the American courts.

The 87 lawsuits against Hershey, Mars, Cadbury and Nestle allege the companies conspired to raise chocolate candy prices about 10 percent in December 2002, six percent in December 2004 and another five percent just before Easter in 2007.

As a consumer, I can say I recall the increases, because the rising costs of chocolate treats during the holidays were duly noted. But even with the price increases and the decline in economic stability, folks were still shelling out money for Halloween, Valentine and Easter candy. It was still considered affordable.

The retailers and consumers who filed suit allege that the companies have needed to fix prices because while the costs for raw materials such as milk and cocoa have increased, sales of chocolate in the United States has remained relatively flat. But the National Confectioners Association has reported increase in chocolate sales each year for the past five years, with another nearly 3 percent growth in 2008, especially in areas of fine dark chocolates.

Market experts say the perceived health benefit has helped pull up chocolate market totals, which would be flat otherwise. This means the favored chocolate bar of your youth, isn’t making anyone any money. But the dark chocolate specialty treat you now favor as an adult, is where the industry is making their coin.

It’s odd to me, however, that there would be a flurry of suits against chocolate industry folks for fixing prices when we have fixed prices in oil, gas and diamonds. Why is chocolate the bad guy?

A few weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal reported that chocolate manufacturers were in a rock and a hard place, because costs of cocoa were skyrocketing. The costs spike was due in part to crop diseases in the Ivory Coast and Ghana that sent cocoa up 38 percent from its lows in November. Additionally the price of sugar, another raw material, is up 23 percent since October to 13.13 cents a pound, also a result of a less than average crop in India, the number two producer of sugar next to Brazil.

Raw materials account for nearly half of chocolate makers’ total costs, according to reports from the manufacturers named in the suits.

But since the demand for chocolate is still high – it’s still considered an affordable luxury (most Americans carry the Charlie Bucket attitude – we can still afford chocolate despite our level of discretionary income). Therefore, the demand will likely not decrease fast enough for prices to stabilize. This will mean that the chocolate industry will need to increase prices in order to stay competitive.

So if you thought chocolate was expensive before, take advantage of the “we’re really not the bad guy” sales, because between the cost of the lawsuits and increase in raw material charges, the price isn’t going to decline. Just remember, chocolate freezes very nicely.