LONDON (Alliance News) - Stevia ingredients producer PureCircle Ltd on Thursday said a detention order preventing the company from shipping stevia into the US is based on inaccurate allegations, and warned that the order could hit sales and profit in the current year.
PureCircle said US Customs & Border Protection issued a communication regarding the detention order earlier on Thursday, but in a statement released later, PureCircle said the order is based on "an inaccurate allegation" that its shipments contained products which were produced using forced labour.
"PureCircle is committed to human rights and the proper and fair use of labour and as such, we have an explicit policy prohibiting use of prison or forced labour in any part of our business," PureCircle said in its statement.
"In addition, we have confirmed that our product, including the shipments being withheld by US customs is not sourced from Inner Mongolia Hengzheng Group Baoanzhao Agricultural and Trade LLC, who were also named in the CBP communication," it added.
PureCircle said it has submitted relevant documentation, including independent third-party verification, to US Customs and is working to "correct the inaccurate information" in order to expedite the release of its shipments.
"Management, together with professional advisors are making every effort to resolve the situation with the CBP. Depending on the duration of the detention order there could be some impact on sales and profit in the current financial year," PureCircle said.
Shares in PureCircle were trading down 10% at 325.25 pence on Thursday morning following the announcement.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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