Chocolate on the cheap: Budget-friendly Valentine's options emerge as consumers feel pinch

Home > Culture > Food & Travel

Chocolate on the cheap: Budget-friendly Valentine's options emerge as consumers feel pinch

Published: 13 Feb. 2025, 07:00

LEE JIAN
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

DIY chocolate kit released by Daiso in light of this year's Valentine's Day [DAISO]

Lavish boxes of chocolate usually headline Valentine's Day, but this year, an unlikely modest option is stealing the spotlight: DIY chocolate kits from the budget-friendly franchise Daiso.

Newly launched this year, the kit costs only 5,000 won ($3) and includes silicon molds, dark and white chocolate pens for decorating, dried fruit, rainbow sprinkles and a plastic pocket with ribbons to wrap the finished bonbons.

From glossy bark overlaid with dried citrus to dainty heart- and crown-shaped chocolates with bursts of color, the products promise a post-worthy outcome for even the most amateur of cooks.

A week before Valentine’s Day, pictures of Daiso’s chocolates bombarded the social media feed of 33-year-old newlywed Lee Hyun. “I’m thinking of buying a kit and then, maybe, just not telling my husband that it’s from Daiso,” she said half-jokingly.

Her comment needs context, however, as Lee isn’t just trying to save a few bucks for herself. She and her husband have both been feeling unmotivated as consumers — and they aren’t alone.

Cocoa-based products sold by Lotte Well Food, a local F&B conglomerate best known for its chocolates [LOTTE WELL FOOD]

Amid tumbling stocks, a tanking currency and the current economic momentum, money over love seems to be the choice for many on this year’s Valentine’s Day.

“We recognized that there is a growing group of consumers for this Valentine’s Day who are looking to relay their sincerity by making the gifts themselves while also remaining economical,” said an official from Daiso.

As political and economic tensions persist, consumers on capitalism’s annual celebration of love are taking a more frugal approach. The cheaper chocolates of yesteryear are making a comeback in a confectionary market that also displays considerable demand for luxury products.

Ghana, one of the oldest Korean chocolates — costing 2,800 won per bar — is also back in fashion, as the promotional efforts to modernize the retro product’s image have seemingly struck a chord with consumers, particularly those in their 20s and 30s. Its most recent pop-up in the trendy eastern Seoul neighborhood of Seongsu-dong last March reportedly attracted over 20,000 visitors.

Pierre Marcolini chocolates [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Also impacting the shifting chocolate trend is the price of cocoa beans, which has spiked in recent times. The Wall Street Journal last month reported that the average cost of beans was up 178 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year — a steeper increase than Bitcoin, which went up 122 percent.

Experts cite climate change and increased parasite numbers in African regions, where the majority of the world’s cocoa beans are farmed, as major causes. The global production of cocoa beans from 2023 to 2024 amounted to 4.5 million tons, which is an almost 11 percent decrease compared to the figures in the previous two years, according to the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation. In particular, the volume of beans from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire shrank by 20 percent and 35 percent, respectively.

The price of Ghana chocolate bars is projected to go up as well, but its producer, Lotte Wellfood, said that it would hold back any increases until after Valentine’s Day.

“The increase in the prices of raw materials, such as cocoa and oils, along with rising labor and processing costs, have made the price adjustments inevitable,” said an official from Lotte Wellfood.

DIY chocolate kit released by Daiso in light of this year's Valentine's Day [DAISO]

The current uncertainties and cocoa prices are also driving the other end of the price spectrum, as the market for luxury cocoa confections continues to thrive.

Expensive chocolates from abroad have become easier to find in Korea, as many have entered the market over the years, including from Pierre Ledent, Godiva, Royce, Läderach and Neuhaus.

Mounting the most anticipation in 2024 was Pierre Marcolini, a luxury Belgian chocolate shop, which opened its first store in Seoul last spring, followed by two more locations in Busan and Daegu. Its five-piece box of chocolates costs 39,000 won and is currently sold out online until Feb. 14.

Gucci Osteria Seoul, a fine-dining restaurant run in partnership with the Italian luxury fashion house Gucci, launched a limited-edition Valentine’s Day chocolate box last week. The box contains eight artisanal bonbons with flavors like soy sauce caramel ganache and Jeju lemon limoncello and is priced at 68,000 won.

Premium box of chocolates available at Gucci Osteria Seoul [GUCCI]

Korea's chocolate sales in 2023 totaled $578 million, and chocolate imports came to $356 million, according to the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) January report. It evaluated that the premium sector had room to grow.

“Imported and high-cocoa-content chocolates are highly regarded, with premium chocolates making up a large portion of new product launches,” reads the USDA report. “Premium chocolates, especially expensive boxed varieties, are popular for gift-giving and as alternatives to luxurious desserts.”

Absurd chocolate prices are expected to persist on both ends of the cost spectrum, as cocoa bean prices are forecast to stay up.

Lee, after giving her comment to the Korea JoongAng Daily, asked her husband, 33-year-old IT worker Jeong Yong-hyun, whether he really would be offended if she gave him a box of Daiso chocolates on Feb. 14.

He gave an honest answer: “No, but maybe if we were still dating.” Now, he finds the store-bought, hand-assembled, 5,000-won chocolates just as romantic.

BY LEE JIAN [[email protected]]