Cookware giant claims its products are safe; media reports likely to take toll on equity price

BEIJING - Zhejiang Supor Co Ltd, China's largest manufacturer of cookware by market share, suspended trading of its shares on Friday and insisted that its products are safe, contradicting media reports that the company's pans include "excessive metal content".

On Thursday, China Central Television claimed that part of Supor's cookware range contains an excessive amount of manganese. The latest allegations are the third time that the company's products have been in the headlines since 2009.

Experts said an excessive intake of manganese could cause hallucinations, or even symptoms similar to Parkinson's Disease.

In early 2009 and in October 2011, Supor cookware was detected as having an excessive manganese content by the local industry and commerce bureau in Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province.

Supor's share price has dropped sharply since October. On Friday, a notice posted through the Shenzhen Stock Exchange said Supor had temporarily suspended trading, because the media reports may have a major impact on the share price.

But Supor insisted that all its products are safe."Our products have been tested and certified as safe by the Italian standards authorities ... China does not have related standards yet," the Hangzhou-based cookware giant said in a post on its website on Friday.

An industry analyst with the Shanghai-based Haitong Securities, who declined to be named, said: "The share price may continue to drop and consumers will hesitate to buy their products even though Supor is the biggest cookware producer in the market, because health is the top concern for Chinese families."

"Certainly I will not touch any of their coated non-stick cookware anymore. I will use woks made from steel or iron instead," said Xu Lei, a Beijing housewife.

However, a Supor salesperson, who declined to be named, at a Beijing Ito Yokado store, said Supor products are safe and "the so-called unqualified pans in the market are all cheap products priced at less than 200 yuan" ($32).

Supor makes products ranging from frying pans to rice cookers. The company is the leading player in the Chinese cookware industry and the third-largest in the world. The French home-appliance company Groupe SEB, which owns brands such as Tefal and Moulinex, holds a majority stake in Supor following a share acquisition in 2006.

Supor operates as an original equipment manufacturer for Groupe SEB, but also increasingly provides its branded products to the group.

Gui Yi contributed to this story.

China Daily

(China Daily 02/18/2012 page10)