CALGARY -- Candy canes and other festive sweets are harder to find this year due to supply chain challenges affecting the food industry.

Candy makers have been having trouble sourcing everything from sugar and cocoa to packaging supplies such as plastic and cardboard.

Shaun Pilfold, owner of Ontario-based online candy store Candy Crave, says he is out of stock on more than 50 items he usually carries.

He has no candy canes at all, and is completely sold out of old-fashioned hard Christmas candy.

Bernard Callebaut, owner of Master Chocolat in Calgary, says a bringing in a shipping container of bulk chocolate from Belgium cost him nearly twice as much this fall as it typically does.

Experts say the food industry as a whole is facing high commodity prices, labour shortages and transportation and supply chain delays.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 22, 2021.