BERLIN, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Ritter Sport, a renowned German chocolate manufacturer, will cut jobs for the first time in its 110-year history after reporting a loss in 2025, a company spokesperson said on Thursday.
A little more than one in 10 positions will be cut at the company's headquarters, where around 1,000 people are employed, the spokesperson said. Ritter Sport employs roughly 1,900 people worldwide.
The company attributed the move to sharply higher cocoa and other raw material costs, as well as rising energy and packaging prices, and weak consumer demand. It said the job cuts would be carried out in a socially responsible manner, although compulsory layoffs could not be ruled out.
Ritter Sport said its preliminary 2025 revenue rose 17.7 percent year-on-year to 712 million euros (832 million U.S. dollars), but the increase failed to offset massive cost pressures across the supply chain.
Chocolate prices in Germany have risen sharply in recent years as manufacturers passed on higher raw material costs to consumers. According to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the price of a standard chocolate bar in March was about 71 percent higher than in 2020. ■