Chocolate bars including favourites Twirl, Mars and KitKat Chunky could cost more than £1 by next year

CHOCOLATE bars could cost more than £1 by next year.

The average price of favourites such as Twirl, Crunchie, Mars and KitKat Chunky has jumped by up to 13 per cent since 2016, says mySupermarket.com.

Price hikes have been blamed on inflation, the weaker Pound following the Brexit vote and the rising cost of some ingredients.

A Cadbury’s Wispa was an average of 56p in supermarkets last year but is 64p now, a 13 per cent rise.

A Snickers was 56p and is now 62p — an 11 per cent increase.

Bounty and Mars are up from 57p to 62p, a jump of nine per cent.

More expensive retailers such as corner shops and outlets in train stations and on motorways are already charging nearly £1.

The Sun found Mars bars in WHSmith at London Victoria station at 95p.

Gilad Simhony, CEO of mySupermarket.co.uk, said: “The cost of a chocolate bar has risen by 13 per cent since 2016. If this rate continues we could be paying over £1 for a regular bar in 2018.”

Retail expert Patricia Davidson said: “The price of cocoa butter went up last year so manufacturers had to put their prices up.

"Now this problem appears to be solved, will prices go down again?”

She suggested that manufacturers could shrink bar sizes to save costs.

Mondelez, Mars and Nestle, the owner of Cadbury’s, said prices were set at “the discretion of retailers.”

It follows news that Toblerone manufacturer Mondelez International has changed the shape of its bars to contain less chocolate in a bid to cut costs.

And there are reports it will soon increase the price of Freddos to 30p – meaning the chocolate frog will have tripled in cost from the year 2000 when it was 10p.