I think this is disgusting and there is NO excuse for this.What are they saying....go along with this or the rest of the staff go?.
Scottish Exec funding should be on the basis of encouraging more Scottish jobs. Given the amount of geniuses we supposedly have in the Scottish Exec that are suppposedly running things for our good, surely a better solution than this can be found

Welcome to the brave new world of the ongoing criminal enterprise known as the Government of the 'Peoples' Republic of China.

This is the way it will be for as many industries as the PRC can get its hooks into ...... and many of Scotland's (and everywhere else's) jobs will end up for grabs ...... 'and over there'.

As long as you idiots (like we idiots here in the US) act as if the PRC is just another government looking out for the best interests of its people(s) and is essentially benign, then you and we will end up literally selling our souls, as well as our jobs, to the lowest bidder ..... the PRC.

In its current configuration with no unions, no significant other freedoms - but death threats and imprisonment, no press freedon, no political opposition, no religious freedon, etc., etc., the Mafia that is the Chinese Communist Party and its functionaries are engaged in a world-wide program of reallocation of enterprise and wealth-creation the likes of which the world has never seen.

All of this comes at the barrel of the gun that Mao was referring to - together with an entire generation of 'western' business, banking, insurance and political interests that would gladly sell-out their first-born for a few transient dollars.

And, my freinds, as they say ...... you ain't seen nothin' yet'. They're just getting started - not yet having come close to hitting their stride.

They (our 'western' colleagues) are spending every waking hour trying to figure out how to take the status quo in your country (and mine) and find a way to get behind it and start humping the hell out of it with the assistance of the Chinese PRC Mafia.

Oh, you'll lament the way things are and you'll whine like a stuck pig when the factory or processing plant nearby shuts down - but what will you do about it?

In this case, when that cheap, sale-priced, scampi that made the pilgramage from the UK to China and back shows up in the store, will you buy it? Wi

I actually live in China and quite franlky just don't recognise what Peter, USA (no 2) is saying about it. Today, China is a good place to live. It's a modern, high enterprise country with rapid and sustained economic development. What's more, it is already moving on from competing internationally on the basis of low wages to doing so on the basis of value added and hi-tech.

The pound is high against other currencies (including both the Chinese Renminbi and the US dollar) and Scotland is a high wage economy. Protectionism may be OK in the short term (go for it) but is unlikely to be a long term solution. If jobs weren't being lost to China there are many other countries they could be lost to instead.

I blame the English. Independence for our scampi! More Socialism will solve the problem!

I now will no longer eat Scottish Dublin Bay Prawns.
Not that I ever have anyway

"Dawnfresh" let us all remember that "name" the next time we go shopping. Let us leave all their produce on the shelves
The next thing they will want to do is to bring fishermen from China!
Dawnfresh blames rising economic pressure for the move.
I don.t think so it,s all about profits
Peter from the U.S.A Scotland lost,s it soul to the English Many years ago

Colin, I agree with you in the most part having worked in GuangZhou and Harbin in the not too distant past. However there is still a lot needs to be done. There are millions of Chinese living on around 30USD per month (according to the newspapers when I was there) and there were numerous beggars at Harbin railway station (HOW can there be beggars in a Communist society?!). The number of large black Mercedes overtaking the donkey carts still shows massive gaps of wealth in China.

But, back to topic, from what I recall all the Scottish caught fish now has to be shipped to London to be 'stamped and graded' before it is transported back to Scotland to be sold. So this kind of food movement is not unusual. It is very sad though. We live in a world where Green Issues are high in everyones thoughts yet we still ship food hundreds or thousands of miles when there should be no need.

We need to move to local produce caught/grown/bred locally and sold/eaten locally. It would, invariably, be healthier and better for us (and the planet) in the long term. We also need to get back to accepting 'seasonal fruit and veg' instead of expecting things to be transported around the world so we can have cherries in winter etc.

I agree with Peter #2. China is not full of peasants working for 20p an hour. It has its full compliment of physcists, insurance actuaries, and the rest. You reckon that in a couple of years Dawnfresh will be exporting langoustines around the world, get real. You will not see them, they will be bought direct from the fishing boats and sold in the very profitable Asian market. Same with the insurance and banking markets, they find out the clientel, they will be able to undercut your costs, provide better returns, until of course you all become peasants working for 20p an hour. Ho, ho, ho for the global economy, you know it works, for some.

Just remember to leave their product on the shelves, also never deal with companies who farm out their call centres to india, its easy to do and they will learn eventually

Southern Skye - I'd say the average salary around Beijing for unskilled labour (parking attendants, llift operators, road cleaners) is around 80 - 100 USD per month. May be lower in the smaller cities.

Peter - not sure if you're having a giraffe or if you are dumb enough to believe all the nonsense you have written.

no unions - eh!! just ask Wal-mart!!

No freedom - as an individual in Asia (including China) there are many freedoms that people in the West do not enjoy. Freedoms in our daily lives without government nannies telling us what you can and cannot do - what you can and cannot eat. Political freedom is non-existent - then again you have political freedom in the States and you gave the world Bush -- make a note - must do better!!

Religous freedom - who cares!!

Now back to Scotland - don't eat Scampiu - it's cruel to little scamps

I used to be quite a 'fan' of Dawnfresh products. But now, like so much else, I'll be looking carefully to see where my scampi is coming from. Just stick to buying from farmers and fishermen direct, that's what I say!

#7 S. Skye -- you must have been in China a wile back. The traffic is now so bad that the 'mule wagons' are now passing the black Mercedes and any other car on the roads :-)

Jim, only ever did a stop over in Beijing...main-stay was Harbin and Daqing in Heilongjiang province....next to outer Mongolia and Siberia right up the top.
The black-Mercs had to dodge the mad Taxis only to be confronted with the mule carts and the "rotavator style transport" (Those that look like they are from 'The Good life')!
It was 5 years ago I was last over.

What is the price of shipping (say) 100kg of scamps to China and back? This is the amount charged by the shipper to the customer.

Now what is the real cost? If it were even possible to factor in the true cost (of environmental impact) this probably would not be an economic proposition.

I bought some chanterelles on Saturday. They were imported from Canada. What's wrong with european mushrooms?

Time all this stopped or was seriously cut back. I won't be buying the dawnfresh products any longer. In the case of the mushrooms I agree its entirely my own fault; but if there had been a more local alternative I would have gone with it.

Slavery by any other name.......

This is bonkers. People must start eatting more Scottish produce (fish, meat, cheese, veg). I get my excellent langoustines from Caledonian Connoisseur:

http://www.caleyco.com

Trust me. If you've never tried them, do so. Nice steamed in whisky.

This is another example of the big supermarket chains putting pressure on suppliers to reduce costs and increase their own profit margin.

What is wrong with paying a fair price for a quality product?

We need to stop buying these products in supermarkets and support your local traders.

Simply impose a new import tax for goods re-imported into Scotland make it unviable economically ,or do nothing but complain , wring our hands and rage at the WTO, that's all Labour are going to do. There is no level playing field when dealing with China, they can undercut any price for any commodity on the market. Do nothing and disappear.

I stand by the facts of my comments.

If others choose to whore themselves out so they can benefit from the slavery of the PRC Communist Party mafia - so be it.

But, be caseful what you wish for .... because 20 cents an hour is a wonderful concept that may have no natural or national barriers as it is used to deunionize and destroy the estblished mercantile economies of the world.

I am quite sure that in time, as you are beginning to see today in Scotland and throughout Europe, the gradual erosion, job-by-job and sector-by-sector, the steady weakening of the power of the pay-packet in those 'established' economies for the sole purpose of facilitating the emergence of a new criminal communist mafia elite in China - as well as for the benefit of their fellow travellers ..... the whorish bankers, insurers, retailers, etc., etc.

For those who CLAIM to have worked in China, did you work for 'Chinese' wages - or did you have some sweet 'ex-pat' deal?

And, did you seek out that sweet 'ex-pat' deal because you couldn't find suitable work in Scotland?

Can you see the connection?

And ..... let's not call each other 'dumb'.

I'm not 'dumb'.

You're not 'dumb' - although you may well be a paid Chinese Government propogandist whose job involves the strutiny of 'foreign' web sites (like the Scotsman's) where you post misinformation to support the contention that China is really benign and beneficial.

Fools others - not me.

No, the Orwellian 'Animal farm' and Huxley 'Brave New World' is alive and well and these days its known as the PRC.

But, I'll take the long view and I'll just see how long it takes for Chinese wages and workplace conditions to come up to those of, say, Italy, or Sweden, or Scotland - or the US for that matter.

Of course, it never will, becuase if it did there would be a large and influential middle class and that, in turn, would result in something close to a democracy in the European

OUTRAGEOUS. As an act of defiance I am going to eat nothing but Chow Mein. No wait.... I haven't thought this through.

Peter,
Things are coming up all the time in PRC.
In my industry (the maritime one), Chinese seamen are very common, and of course 10-15 years ago they replaced many Europeans.
Back then, the Norwegian sailor as top dog in the wage scales, with the Chinaman the lowest.
Back then a Norwegian was earning more than 10 times a Chinaman. That gap is now only SIX times and closing all the time.
It's a certainty they will become the worlds economic powerhouse, and to be honest it's not before time, especially with a country with as many resources and as large a population at China - India being a good example.
They WILL overtake us, and they WILL overtake the U.S. as the next superpower.
Perhaps we should get used to it and learn to deal with it instead of engaging in childish McCarthy-ish conspiracy theories.

Re Colin 3

I know lots of Scots who will be intrigued to find out we are a wage economy.

Bet its a long time since you worked for £5 an hour

Re Colin 3

I know lots of Scots who will be intrigued to find out we are a HIGH wage economy.

Bet its a long time since you worked for £5 an hour

Are they still implementing the 'one child only' policy over there. As far as I am aware they have been enforcing abortions, even on women who are in the later stages of pregnancy. Was'nt there a blind activist sentenced to 4 years in prison recently for protesting against this kind of thing. As I recall his lawyer was sacked before the 'trial' and his wife was not allowed to attend the trial either. Of course as a male child is always the preferred choice women are aborting female foetuses to try and ensure a boy.

Do they still have the fur farms where cats and dogs are skinned alive (see PETA for film footage) and left to die in agony. Just so that some lovely wee 'cat' in a basket ornaments can grace your mantlepiece, or indeed a jacket bearing the label 'faux fur'. Made in China......you can keep it.

How will the retail packs be labelled? Produce of Scotland or China? The Foods Standards Agency should create a code of practice whereby any food moved out of Scotland for any reason during the processing chain and prior to labelling can no longer claim to be Scottish. Consumers will then know exactly what they're buying.

#19
My claim is factual.
I've worked in China, Sweden, Spain, France, Monaco, Germany, Belgium, England, Scotland, and so on. I like to travel but not be a tourist.
I am not a propaganda machine for anyone nor anything.
Of course I was 'on an ex-pat deal'. If I am anywhere other than home I am an ex-pat!

Wages in different countries cannot be directly compared without taking the cost of living into account. Chinese wages will only reach 'Western' levels when their cost of living can be compared to ours. I bought a 2/3 litre of beer in a bar in Harbin and a packet of cigarettes for under 10pence Sterling. In the UK this would cost me around 7 pounds sterling.

It seems only a few days ago that we had a news story about how the folks of Aberdeenshire, in a fit of "environmentalism", had so scunnered somebody trying to set up a fast food processing factory that they had decided never to darken Scotland's doorway again.

I guess losing these jobs is an equal triumph for "environmentalism". Or perhaps the complaints for the one & not the other show that we are committed only to maintaining jobs we have always had & steadfastly against anything new.

Such an attitude guarantees success - for China.

Its simple. The company have to pay back the money they got as a grant to build there plant up. They have not kept the promise to create jobs in Scotland.

Also as mentioned before we don,t buy there products. Why should we support a company that is not supporting scottish jobs,

Just think of the hygiene in China they cant spell the word and Shipping it all that way and its not going to go off if a fridge fails?
They will process them anyway.

STUFF THEM , REMEMBER THE NAME, DAWNFRESH.

Dawnfresh have not updated their website - they have nothing on it about all the extra food miles and nothing about a reduction in price this may have bought about.
Another company to boycott.

I don't see a whole lot of point in people wringing their hands about hourly wage rates in other countries. "Charities" spend a lot of time banging on about it. It means nothing to me to say that a chinese person earns USD30 or USD100 or GBP0.20, exchange rates don't tell us about the purchasing power of that money.

Boycotting Dawnfresh may also be less easy than you think, given that they make own-label products for the supermarkets.

I agree with Boswell (#14) it is very unlikely that the full environmental cost charged during this process. Using full costing is the best way to reduce foodmiles, not protectionist sanctions

It is also worth noting in answer to Roberts question that the food will carry an EU label saying that the food is packed in the UK.

Protectionism is not the answer, honest trade is, but we don't have anything like that.

Food hygein is the issue.
The company and China have to make positive cash flow to survive, as do we all but they do not have to eat it. Hong Kong supermarkets recently had to withdraw USA sourced spinach because of "ecoli", yes it must have been washed in dirty water. This Scampi will be frozen, thawed, man handled by underpaid workers who need daily education about sanitation (its not their fault they are so poor and under educated), chilled, rehandled by machines in Scotland and sent to supermarket shelves - eh, how long after it is caught?. I have seen reefer containers thawing on the Hong Kong Docks and know well the temperatures on the mainland. I know too the stories of goods mishandled in the British supermarket supply chain.
Two questions for Dawnfresh shareholders and mangement plus consumers wake up.
Are you paying enough for first class process supervision if you can process a product cheaper outside the country of source? How long before you infect a consumer and possibly kill one?

I'm still trying to understand this....take a natural resource form Scotland, freeze it, send it to China then resell it in Scotland unfrozen. #32 VERY GOOD comment! What happened to fresh food? It's obviously NOT "Dawn fresh". Still, the scam is to take food from Scotland ......and ship to China........then back to Scotland.......???????

Yes this Makes lots and lots of sence lets cach "scampi 5,000 miles to China for processing before bringing it back again to sell."
Why don't we do this with other thing like shiping over the the ingreedent for Wisky to somewhere like China and then bring it back hear once it's been made. Or Send milk over to be pasturised. Hey and while we're at this lets just send all work outside Scotland so we can all be unemployed
When is the job loses going to stop.
When will organsations care more about their emplyee that their massive proffit margens and giveing the higher arcay big bounnuses over paying there worker a decent wage. ( Oh & anyone who thinks min wage is enough to live on I sujest they try and live on it the supermarkets own brands of food, the price of rent is on the raise and so is Gas and electrisaty. These prices rasies quicker than the min wage does.

Quality should be more importnat than Quntity to organisation. A happy work force is a more preductive one.

I heard that the Local Labour MSP said that he fully understood why this organisation was doing this! Nice to hear that these emplyee who lose thier jobs can count on their local MSP to take the side of their formar emploer.

American Peter lives in a VERY BLACK and VERY WHITE world and drinks WAY too much coffee..economic cosiderations and their effects have kept pace with the world's increasing complexities..as a fellow american I would ask him if he's as diligent about avoiding outsourced products as he is casting aspersions at others' claims.How many "made in usa" labels are in YOUR house..not many in mine.. certainly not my car-american cars are crap(and the parts aren't made here)..seeing a trend,Peter?I miss the old world as well.

It seems that what Dawnfresh is saying is that to make more profit they have to find labor that they can pay slave wages to. Clear enough. They also say if they raise prices because they would have to pay local peelers more than one pound/hour they would no longer be competative on a product that is found exclusively in Scottish waters.

I was hoping to move to Scotland in part to get away from American thought processes. It looks like illogic has gotten there before I will. I also can't yet get a grip on the idea of banning swords to protect 15 people a year.

Your going American, Scotland. Quick learn to think without holding on, save yourselves!!

Interesting species, us. Able to rationalize and talk our way out of just about anything - except face the facts. The fact is that sprinboarded by the British and their 'relationship' with Hong Hong and the New Territories which invited cheaply 'Made in Hong Kong' products to set the modern president in flooding the world's market's which cheaply-made goods, the next logical step was to somehow 'harness' the lack of freedom and opportunity (i.e., desperation) of the Chinese slave-class into a machine that the PRC and communist-originated Chinese mafia will be able to use to;

1. Enrich themselves.
2. Gain influence via hard capital earnings.
3. Use those hard capital earnings to do the least amount of good for the least number of slave-class people in China, while at the same time;
4. Enrishing themselves.

It is truly that simple.

We (western democracies) have allowed India other developing democracies to linger in the wings while piling wealth upon the communist-originated mafia system that is about as represive as they come.

I have ben challenged on the 'buy American issue'. I try to. But it is hard to do because the process of the infestation of PRC-made products has advanced to the point where they have truly become unavoidable.

I guess the point is, I'm not anti-Chinese, I'm not anti-'foreigner', or anything like it.

I just resent the hell out of the fact that my fellow citizens on this planet seem to think it is OK to assist a vile and corrupt system to continue to repress its own people, while at the same time setting about on a scheme and program that provides the opportunity to dismantle a couple of hundred years of social and indistrial advancement in other nations.

If you want to deliberately get into bed with that arangement, shame on you.

If you are a victim of it, or can't avoid it, then that's not entirely your fault.

We are (and always have been) in a global economy - but now the

#36 - William...... No we're not going American because we're not creating anything like enough new companies. If we were then issues like sending seafood to China for processing wouldn't be an issue...

#37 Peter....... You have to remember that the UK economy is highly dependent on the consumer and both the retail sector and the banks have done a first class job in creating record consumer debt levels and a record balance of trade deficit. It's in their interest to keep people buying things and borrowing more money. We don't do much else really.

There are many reasons for what is happening. When a business goes with a decision it deems best for its bottom line, one must look beyond the surface and attempt to grasp – or take in – the whole picture of what drives that business decision.

Look at the whole picture:
- What is the wage structure of the nation/locality?
- What is the cost-of-living in that nation/locality?
- How many regulations is industry saddled with? Every imposed regulation has its attendant costs, which industry must bear.
- What are the complete costs of doing business there – including the tax structure?

When you add it all up, then you begin to understand what businesses are up against.
And if you think what the seafood processor is doing isn't nice, then try doing the same thing yourself, by starting your own business in the same endeavor, and report back on how 'successful' you were.

I am Scottish born and bred and in process of moving back to Scotland - I was shocked to read about the 5,000 mile trip sending prawns to China and then back again to be sold in Scotland - this is adding to global warming with unnecessary journeys - it is time for the housewives to boycotte companys who persist in this practice - as customers we need to put preasure on stores to purchase local food (not sent abroad for processing) thus saving food miles and Scottish jobs.