Christmas chocolate, sweets and biscuit boxes are getting smaller as the prices stay the same, but at least those considering a New Year diet will have fewer pounds to shift. Researchers have found that cartons of festive treats have shrunk by as much as 14.8 percent in the last year, while shoppers are still paying the same amount for their favourite snacks. Manufacturers say rising costs of ingredients and even a lighter sort of chocolate are behind the shrinking boxes, as well as pressure from health chiefs to reduce the sugar and calorie content in their products. Shrinking: Boxes of Maynards Wine Gums (left) and Bassetts Jelly Babies (right) are among the Christmas treats that are getting smaller, with the weight of a £4 box falling from 540 to 460g . According to research by the Sunday Mirror, the weight of a £4 box of family favourites Maynards Wine Gums and Bassetts Jelly Babies have plummeted from 540g to 460g. The Fabulously Fox's Biscuit Selection, which costs £6, is now 50g lighter at 600g, and the £5 Cadbury Biscuit Collection has dropped from 380g to 335g. And chocolate lovers will find there is less to go around with £6 boxes of Nestle Black Magic which once weighed 376g now coming in at 348g, and £4 boxes of Terry’s Chocolate Orange Segsations  down 30g at 300g. Selection box: The Fabulously Fox's Biscuit Selection, which costs £6, is now 50g lighter at 600g . Changes: Biscuit manufacturer Burtons, which makes the Cadbury pack, told the newspaper that their boxes have the same number of biscuits, but they weigh less because they are topped with different chocolate . Biscuit manufacturer Burtons, which makes the Cadbury pack, told the newspaper that their boxes have the same number of biscuits, but they weigh less because they are topped with a different sort of chocolate. 'We changed the recipe and this has resulted in slightly reduced weights per biscuit,' said a spokesman. Foxes said their biscuits may weigh less than before, but the product is now of a higher quality, and Nestle said there will still the same number of sweets in the Black Magic box. Uniform: Cadbury said the shape of the Terry's Chocolate Orange Segsations packaging had changed to mirror other products on sale . Cadbury said the shape of the Chocolate Orange Segsations packaging had changed to mirror other products on sale, while the size of the Wine Gums and Jelly Babies packs had been reduced because of 'economic factors', with the smaller boxes meaning customers were not paying more for them. Last year, Mars UK shrank its popular Mars and Snickers bars, reducing a Mars from 58g to 51g and Snickers from 58g to 48g as part of a pledge to cut calories in its products to a maximum of 250. As a result of the size changes, the number of calories in a Mars bar dropped from 260 to 229 and in a Snickers bar from 280 to 245. Manufacturers have also had to deal with the rising cost of ingredients, in particular cocoa butter, the price of which has jumped 28 percent this year to more than £5,000 a tonne because of strong demand and limited supply. The price of cocoa beans, from which cocoa butter is extracted, has also risen to a three-year high this year. Expensive ingredients: The price of cocoa beans, and the cocoa butter extracted from them is rising .
Boxes of festive treats have shrunk by as much as 14.8% in last year .
Weight of Maynards Wine Gums and Bassetts Jelly Babies down 80g .
Packets of Fox's and Cadbury biscuits also weigh less than before .
Manufacturers say rising cost of ingredients behind some of the changes .
Different sort of chocolate is the cause of lighter Cadbury biscuits .
Christmas chocolate, sweets and biscuit boxes are getting smaller as the prices stay the same, but at least those considering a New Year diet will have fewer pounds to shift. Researchers have found that cartons of festive treats have shrunk by as much as 14.8 percent in the last year, while shoppers are still paying the same amount for their favourite snacks. Manufacturers say rising costs of ingredients and even a lighter sort of chocolate are behind the shrinking boxes, as well as pressure from health chiefs to reduce the sugar and calorie content in their products. Shrinking: Boxes of Maynards Wine Gums (left) and Bassetts Jelly Babies (right) are among the Christmas treats that are getting smaller, with the weight of a £4 box falling from 540 to 460g . According to research by the Sunday Mirror, the weight of a £4 box of family favourites Maynards Wine Gums and Bassetts Jelly Babies have plummeted from 540g to 460g. The Fabulously Fox's Biscuit Selection, which costs £6, is now 50g lighter at 600g, and the £5 Cadbury Biscuit Collection has dropped from 380g to 335g. And chocolate lovers will find there is less to go around with £6 boxes of Nestle Black Magic which once weighed 376g now coming in at 348g, and £4 boxes of Terry’s Chocolate Orange Segsations down 30g at 300g. Selection box: The Fabulously Fox's Biscuit Selection, which costs £6, is now 50g lighter at 600g . Changes: Biscuit manufacturer Burtons, which makes the Cadbury pack, told the newspaper that their boxes have the same number of biscuits, but they weigh less because they are topped with different chocolate . Biscuit manufacturer Burtons, which makes the Cadbury pack, told the newspaper that their boxes have the same number of biscuits, but they weigh less because they are topped with a different sort of chocolate. 'We changed the recipe and this has resulted in slightly reduced weights per biscuit,' said a spokesman. Foxes said their biscuits may weigh less than before, but the product is now of a higher quality, and Nestle said there will still the same number of sweets in the Black Magic box. Uniform: Cadbury said the shape of the Terry's Chocolate Orange Segsations packaging had changed to mirror other products on sale . Cadbury said the shape of the Chocolate Orange Segsations packaging had changed to mirror other products on sale, while the size of the Wine Gums and Jelly Babies packs had been reduced because of 'economic factors', with the smaller boxes meaning customers were not paying more for them. Last year, Mars UK shrank its popular Mars and Snickers bars, reducing a Mars from 58g to 51g and Snickers from 58g to 48g as part of a pledge to cut calories in its products to a maximum of 250. As a result of the size changes, the number of calories in a Mars bar dropped from 260 to 229 and in a Snickers bar from 280 to 245. Manufacturers have also had to deal with the rising cost of ingredients, in particular cocoa butter, the price of which has jumped 28 percent this year to more than £5,000 a tonne because of strong demand and limited supply. The price of cocoa beans, from which cocoa butter is extracted, has also risen to a three-year high this year. Expensive ingredients: The price of cocoa beans, and the cocoa butter extracted from them is rising .
found that cartons of festive treats have shrunk by as much as 14.8 percent in the last year, sort of chocolate are behind the shrinking boxes, Shrinking: Boxes of Maynards Wine Gums (left) and Wine Gums and Bassetts Jelly Babies have biscuits may weigh less than before, but the rising cost of ingredients, in particular cocoa