Correspondence
Email sent to the press office at REWE.
The email described links between the company's supplier Nomad Foods and the use of Uyghur forced labor in China. The email asked: Could you confirm whether white fish sourced from Yantai Sanko, Yantai Longwin and Qingdao Tianyuan has been used in any of the Iglo branded products sold by REWE since 2018?
The Outlaw Ocean Project's publishing partner in Germany, Die Zeit, contacted REWE twice seeking comment from REWE.
The Outlaw Ocean Project’s publishing partner in Germany, Die Zeit, asked REWE for an update on its internal review into the findings of The Outlaw Ocean Project’s investigation.
Kristina Schütz, Head of Corporate Communications atREWE Group, replied to say that the company’s checks had been completed and found that Iglo is not a private label supplier of REWE and the three companies named by The Outlaw Ocean Project are also not part of REWE’s private label supply chain.
Die Zeit replied to ask: 1) if Iglo continues to supply REWE as a brand supplier, and 2) if it cannot be ruled out that deliveries were made, either previously or currently, to REWE from the relevant processing companies, outside of the private label supplies.
Kristina Schütz, Head of Corporate Communications atREWE Group, replied that REWE is in constant communication with its brand and own-brand suppliers regarding their shared responsibility for human rights and environmental risks in the supply chain. Regarding the example of Iglo, she said that Iglo obliges its suppliers to ensure compliance with the agreed requirements via regular audit. She added that in the area of both branded and private label products, REWE can rule out the possibility that these companies are part of our supply chains, but it cannot be completely ruled out that REWE occasionally received Iglo products in the past, in which raw materials were processed at Qingdao Tianyuan.
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed: "We previously contacted REWE on August 31, 2023, regarding our investigation into the use of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry. Our ongoing investigation has uncovered additional evidence which we wanted to bring to your attention. We have investigators on the ground in China who have been engaging with labor brokers directly involved with the transfer of North Korean workers to factories in China. Through this and other investigative means, including collecting online footage from the plants and interviews with workers recently returned to North Korea from China, we’ve found large numbers of North Korean workers at a range of seafood processing plants in Liaoning province, on China’s border with North Korea.
We have information that as recently as December 2023, there were 50-70 workers at Dalian Haiqing Food Co. Ltd. in Liaoning.
The use of overseas North Korean workers was prohibited by the United Nations Security Council in 2017, with Resolution 2397 setting a deadline of December 2019 for the repatriation of all such workers to North Korea. Under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), passed in 2017, the United States prohibits the import of any goods produced by North Korean nationals unless clear and convincing evidence is provided that indicates the materials were not made with forced labor. According to trade records seen by The Outlaw Ocean Project, REWE was the consignee for multiple shipments of seafood from Dalian Haiqing in 2020 and 2021.
While we understand that you may not be aware of the above issues, we want to ask if REWE has any comment to make in response to this email?"
Thomas Bonrath, media spokesperson for REWE Group, replied: "Thank you for your message. Due to the limited information and missing documents, it is indeed not possible for us to fully trace the past facts. We would need specific and complete details of the companies involved in the supply chain as well as the deliveries themselves, e.g. batch numbers, production, delivery and invoice data.
However, we would like to make the following statement: REWE Group does not tolerate human rights violations or forced labor in the supply chain. Corresponding regulations that are binding for our suppliers define minimum standards, demands, activities and restrictions that are verified through certifications and regular audits and help to minimize such risks. In accordance with the REWE Supplier Code of Conduct, suppliers are also obliged not to violate human rights and environmental obligations in their own business area and to pass on the corresponding obligations in the upstream supply chain, i.e. to the indirect suppliers of REWE Group, in a binding manner. REWE Group updated the REWE Supplier CoC in October 2022. The REWE Supplier CoC thus already takes into account the requirements of the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG), which has been in force since January 1, 2023.
REWE Group's guideline for sustainable business also applies to all business relationships. Among others, it includes the prohibition of forced labor and exploitative child labor as well as fair treatment of employees. We consistently follow up on indications of human rights violations or forced labor as part of our due diligence. REWE Group reserves the right to impose sanctions in the event of deliberate gross disregard of the values described in the guideline."
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied: "Thank you for your email and for engaging with us on this. There are a number of very helpful databases, such as Import Genius and Panjiva, which we tend to use to help in tracing supply chain connections and shipments. The trade records showing shipments from Dalian Haiqing Food consigned to Rewe-Zentral AG are all marked as leaving the port of Dalian, and arriving at the port of Hamburg. The arrival dates are: 14-05-2021; 21-05-2021; 04-06-2021; 25-06-2021; and 20-08-2021. The product details for the first of those dates list frozen fillets of Alaska pollock, while the other four are identified as frozen fillets of cod. I hope this additional information is helpful to you in identifying these materials in REWE’s supply chain. Does REWE have any corresponding records matching these orders to Haiqing, or products received from Haiqing?"
Thomas Bonrath, media spokesperson for REWE Group, replied: "Thank you for your renewed email. We are very interested in investigating the matter and are taking the information seriously.
According to our information, Dalian Haiqing Food Co. Ltd. has five fish factories. Two fish factories produce products for the domestic Chinese market and three fish factories produce export products. We have a business relationship with two of the three fish factories producing for export: Dalian Jiaming Food Co. Ltd. and Dalian Haikuo Food Co. Ltd.
Both factories are BSCI-certified and both factories underwent ICS (Initiative for Compliance and Sustainability) audits in 2023. Two REWE Group employees were last personally on site in June 2023. They were unable to identify any violations. Therefore, the decisive factor in determining whether our supply chain is affected within the meaning of the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG) is whether you have evidence of human rights violations at the two named fish factories. Only with this information can we initiate further measures at the level of the factories and the certification and auditing bodies involved.
We would also be happy to talk to you personally to clarify the matter. If you provide us with the relevant contact details, we will be happy to forward them to our specialised department."
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied: "Thanks for your email and your interest in discussing the investigation further. As you may not know, we're communicating with over 300 companies about our investigation into forced labor, and we're doing so always in writing and on record so we can be fully transparent. While we are unable to speak by phone, we are happy to keep talking by email.
As a journalism outlet, we are unable to provide anything that risks exposing our sources to retribution or penalty from authorities in China and/or North Korea. That said, we do not wish to hinder your investigation into the allegations and will share what additional context we feel safely able to at this time.
Dalian Haiqing operates multiple plants, including Dalian Jiaming and Dalian Haikuo, from the same area in Zhuanghe City, Liaoning.
One of our investigators in China visited this site on our behalf, providing video footage from the grounds. Haiqing displays its branding at each of the facilities, and Chinese corporate records indicate it is still the parent company. We used mapping software and open source footage to independently confirm the location of this investigator’s visit.
Our investigator who visited the site was accompanied by a businessman who works with the plant. This businessman also identified the dorms and said that Haiqing employed 50-70 North Korean workers and has done so since 2021.
Our investigation has also interviewed North Korean workers who worked as recently as 2023 at facilities they said were owned by Haiqing. These workers, most of them women, described their time doing seafood processing at Haiqing plants and some of them described sexual coercion from their managers and sex for pay.
Thomas, thank you for sharing the auditing details. Do you know if the audits that the two Haiqing factories underwent in 2023 were announced or unannounced? Did the auditors, or the REWE employees who visited the plant, have any processes in place specifically to identify North Koreans (for example, being able to speak Korean)?"