Correspondence
Email sent to Anders Egeberg Olesen, Logistics Manager at Alimex.
The email said: "I’m writing to you in light of our latest investigation, which concerns abuses in the Chinese squid fishing and seafood processing industry, and a link we’ve discovered between companies engaged in abuses and a supplier in your supply chain - Qingdao Tianyuan.
Trade records show that Alimex Seafood has imported pollock from Qingdao Tianyuan Aquatic Foods, a seafood processor based in China.
Qingdao Tianyuan Aquatic Products has received persons from the Xinjiang region of China under a state- imposed labor transfer program since early 2020 and at least until May 2023. The United Nations, human rights organizations and academic experts agree that since 2018, the Chinese government has systematically subjected Xinjiang’s predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities to forced labor across the country via state-sanctioned employment programs which use coercive methods in worker enrollment. The U.S. has prohibited the importation of goods produced from state-imposed forced labor.
Does Alimex Seafood have any comment or clarification to make in response to the above information? Has Alimex supplied Lidl with any seafood sourced through Qingdao Tianyuan?
Please let me know by close of business on August 7, 2023."