Correspondence
Email sent to the contact address for Soguima Comercio Industria Alimentar.
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 a company engaged in such practices and your supply chain – Donggang Haimeng Foodstuff. We have uncovered evidence that Donggang Haimeng has used North Korean labor after the December 2019 deadline for the repatriation of overseas North Korean workers required under United Nations Security Council sanctions. This evidence shows the presence of North Korean labor at Donggang Haimeng’s factory in Liaoning, China, as recently as 2023. According to trade records seen by The Outlaw Ocean Project, Soguima Comercio Industria Alimentar SA was the consignee for multiple shipments of seafood from Donggang Haimeng Foodstuff since December 2019. While we understand that you may not be aware of the above issues, we want to ask if Soguima Comercio Industria Alimentar SA has any comment to make in response to this email?"
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed: "As we hadn't heard back from you on this, we wanted to check in and see if you have any comment to make at this time? To clarify: The supply company in question is called Donggang Haimeng Foodstuff, based in Dandong City, Liaoning, China."
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed: "As we haven’t heard back from you on this, we wanted to loop around one more time to make sure you saw our query. Our work will be published in Portugal by Público and, if you have a statement or comment to make in response to our query, we will need it before close of business on February 22, 2024."
Soguima Comercio replied: "Good afternoon, We apologize for the delay in responding.
After a new alert from Aldi, we checked further (with our IT department) and found this email in SPAM. However, we know that they made two more attempts to contact us, but we were unable to find those emails.
In response to your statement, we inform that we were not aware of this type of practice on the part of supplier Dandong Hailong Foodstuff. However, following information from Aldi, we immediately proceeded to block the supplier (5th February), so will not purchase any more product from that supplier until this situation is clarified.
We apologize again for the delay in responding."