Candy sales expected to remain steady during COVID-19 Halloween

Americans haven’t been shy about stocking their quarantine pantries with candy — sales were up 6.3 percent during the 17-week period ending at the end of June.

But what will happen with the huge eight-week selling season for Halloween?

The Hershey Company expects a reasonably good season, though they have prepared for a dip.

The Halloween season accounts for 10 percent of the candy business, with Americans purchasing about 600 million pounds for the spooky days. About 90 million pounds of that is chocolate.

Candy makers aren’t that worried about Halloween, since they believe families will find ways to celebrate even if quarantine orders are in place. After all, kids can always wear, you know, masks. In addition, there is no evidence that the novel coronavirus survives on the packaging.

At Hershey, the company has decided to make fewer Halloween-specific packages, but continue making packages of bite-sized treats.

According to Hershey, about 55 percent of their Halloween sales are for the home or office candy bowls.