Correspondence
Email sent to Inger-Marie Sperre, Managing Director.
The email said: "I’m contacting you in light of our latest investigation which concerns the use of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry, and a link we’ve discovered between companies engaged in such practices and your supply chain. Brødrene Sperre has sent fish to be processed at three plants run by the Shandong Meijia Group, and one (Rizhao Rirong Aquatic Products) under the Rongsense Group.
The Meijia Group and the Rongsense Group have each received persons from the Xinjiang region of China under a state-imposed labor transfer program since at least 2019 and 2017, respectively, and as recently as 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 Brødrene Sperre have any comment or clarification to make regarding the above information? Please respond to this email by close of business on August 1, 2023."
Inger-Marie Sperre, Managing Director, replied: "The companies you mention are not in our supply chain. The raw material for our fish processing factories in Norway comes from MSC approved fisheries, mainly conducted by Norwegian boats. We produce and export seafood to numerous countries and companies all over the world. We do not own factories abroad, and we do net rent factories or production facilities / capacity in countries outside Norway. Once we have sold our products, we have very limited possibilities to track the goods, and to effect how and where the buyer disposes of the goods."
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied: "Thank you very much for replying so quickly to our query and for your very thorough response.
We certainly appreciate that once a company sells its product to a customer, that it then has very limited insight on what happens next to that product and where it goes. Given the issues raised in our previous email, do you have any concerns about materials from Brødrene Sperre going into factories where they may be processed in forced labor conditions?"