- Ritter Sport plans to reduce the number of employees for the first time in 110 years.
- The company faces rapidly rising cocoa prices, energy and packaging costs.
- Consumer demand for products fell significantly.
- About a tenth of the jobs in the Waldenbuch production are to disappear.
German chocolate manufacturer Ritter Sport plans to reduce the number of employees for the first time in its 110-year history. Namely, his business burdened by the rising prices of raw materials, especially cocoa, but also the increase in energy and packaging costs. At the same time, the company recorded a significant decrease in consumer demand, a company spokesperson told the DPA agency at the end of this week.
The reduction in the number of employees is to affect production in the city of Waldenbuch near Stuttgart, where approximately 1,000 people work out of a total of 1,900 employees. The company plans to eliminate roughly a tenth of positions in Waldenbuch.
Despite the strengthening of sales, Ritter Sport slipped into a loss last year and its operating profit fell well short of expectations. The company attributed the loss primarily to the sharp rise in the cost of raw materials. However, it did not disclose the specific amount of the negative economic result. Last year, the company’s sales increased by 17.7% to 712 million euros compared to the previous year. However, according to her, this increase was not enough to compensate for the “massive increase in costs”.
