How much money is spent on Valentine's Day?
CBSN
Money famously can't buy you love, but be prepared to pay up for those Valentine's Day flowers or chocolates this year. In:
Money famously can't buy you love, but be prepared to pay up for those Valentine's Day flowers or chocolates this year.
The average consumer is expected to spend roughly $200 — an all-time high and up from $188.81 last year — on the annual day of romance, according to the National Retail Federation.
Virtually every Valentine's Day staple has gotten significantly more expensive in recent years. Since 2021, prices across related gift categories have seen double-digit inflation, with chocolate costs surging more than 70%, according to federal economic data.
Prices for 32 popular Valentine's Day chocolate products rose from last year, a recent LendingTree report said, a sign that elevated inflation continues to affect consumers.
Although global cocoa costs have dropped, "retail prices are still sticky," David Branch, an agriculture expert at Wells Fargo, told CBS News. "That's because for most candymakers, there's a lag between when they have to purchase the cocoa beans as raw material, to when they actually produce the product."

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