Hershey: Halloween Candy Shortage Looms

Halloween could be haunted by candy shortages this year, Hershey warned Thursday. The company said supply chain issues including shortages of raw materials like cocoa meant it would fall short of meeting demand over Halloween—its busiest time of year—and the holiday season, reports Reuters. Chief executive Michele Buck said the issues affecting the supply chain include the war in Ukraine, which has disrupted energy supplies to Germany (which provides Hershey with some of its equipment and supplies), the BBC reports. The company's products include Twizzlers, Jolly Ranchers, Kit Kat bars, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

Halloween production kicks off in the spring each year, and uses the same production lines as its everyday candy. When asked why Hershey hadn't taken an "all hands on deck" approach to producing a Halloween stockpile, Buck said the company had decided to focus on keeping store shelves stocked now, the Washington Post reports. "It was a tough decision to balance that with the seasons, but we thought that was really important,” she said. Hershey said Thursday that second-quarter sales had grown 19% year-over-year. The company raised its profit forecast, with most of the growth expected to come from higher prices, Reuters notes. (More Hershey stories.)