For some Ile-de-France producers, Rungis is a short circuit that allows them to promote and retain complete control of their production..

Francis Tremblay
(Manager of the market garden company Tremblay EARL)

"We are based in Neuville-sur-Oise and in Epiais-Rhus in the Vexin (95) on 155 hectares under reasoned agriculture where we produce radishes, white onions, cabbage, celeriac and celery, spinach, cardoon and others. We have been selling all of our production at Rungis for the last twelve years, one third on the producers' floor (catering and retail trade) where my wife works and two thirds to wholesalers from the Market. Being at Rungis means we sell our products directly at a price we set and we know the volumes needed. By better controlling production, we have also made substantial savings. Rungis has become a must for us."

Dominique Chevet
(Manager of the market garden company Chevet EARL)

“Based in Presles-en-Brie (77) on 7 hectares (including half a hectare under glass), we produce a vast number of aromatic herbs and edible flowers. 50% of our clientele is composed of retailers (covered markets, street markets, etc.), 25% restaurants and 25% large and medium-sized retailers (direct sales). My parents worked on the producers’ floor as of 1969 and I have been here since 1991. The advantage of being at Rungis is that you have a direct contact with the clientele, you avoid intermediaries and you stay in touch with trends and customers’ needs. Furthermore, I produce the volumes I sell and this helps us achieve a good product quality.”

For flower producers (cut flowers or bedding plants), Rungis represents proximity with the clientele, market developments and product quality.

Jean-Claude Chevalier
(Ile-de-France flower producer- Vice-President of the Rungis Fleurs Production association)

“Based in Villejuif and in Rungis Ville, I produce hyacinths, amaryllis, lily-of-the-valley, arum lilies, sunflowers, hydrangea and eremurus, part of which I sell as cut flowers in the C1 pavilion. I supply florist shops (70%), market florists and a little to the provinces. Our RFP association chaired by Bernard Vigoureux includes 42 producers in Ile-de-France. Besides the proximity, the interest of being at Rungis is to spot market trends, to produce according to demand by providing fresh, top quality products, to select your clientele and to save on the margins an intermediary would normally take. Being at Rungis is a serious advantage.”

Claude Vion
(Manager and partner of Ets Vion – producer of bedding plants)

“We are bedding plant producers based in Faremoutiers (77) on 4.5 hectares including 20 000 m2 in heated, automated greenhouses. We produce 3.5 million bedding plants per year, 10,000 pots of chrysanthemums and Christmas trees. Our clients are garden centres, local authorities and landscape gardeners. We are a member of APHUMR and we have been at Rungis since 1969, where we sell a part of our production. The interest of Rungis is the wide range of top quality goods and the potential clientele. However, there are fewer clients at Rungis because of the direct competition, especially from abroad. Yet Rungis is good for meeting professionals and understanding the market. This is an important place for the distribution of our products.”

Some Rungis operators have opted to invest heavily upstream by setting up a an important and qualitative joint venture with a producer, like the R&O group, or to invest directly in production, like Sélection.

Eric Achard
(Managing Director of the R&O Seafood Gastronomy Group – Seafood sector at Rungis)

“The commercial relations between our Atlantys group and the OSO group date back to 1995. OSO is an aquaculture and exclusively shrimp fishing business that obtained organic agriculture (AB) certification in 2006, which was a world premier, for its very high quality shrimp, which we sell. We wanted to build ties upstream, with a producer with a proven track record, who could bring us their experience as a certified fish farmer in a period when fish resources were on the decline. Our talks resulted in the creation of the R&O Seafood Gastronomy Group, a joint venture with 1 200 employees, a turnover of €240 million and a volume of 42 000 tons all products included. It offers us a real solution on our three segments: traditional, commercial catering (all forms) and large and medium-sized retailers. Our relationship with OSO is the validation of our skills in distributing quality products, which is called managed sourcing. Furthermore, we distribute several products like bass and organic sea bream from Greece, salmon from France and the special White Pearl oyster, by exclusivity. Our commercial vocation is to build up our range by the entry of other differentiating products under OSO (AB or MSC certified products) and Reynaud (top gastronomic products) brands.”

Cédric Gallot
(Managing Director of the Sélection group – Fruit & Vegetables sector at Rungis. Vice-President of CSCGFL and board member of CSIFL)

“Sélection was founded in 1970 by my father Yves, who was an agent at Rungis at the time and an importer (citrus fruit from Spain and grapes from Italy) in the 1980s. After the creation of COLEACP, of which he was a board member, he produced string beans in Cameroon and Burkina Faso, pineapples in the Ivory Coast and vegetables in Morocco. When he died in 2001, we developed the imports (pineapples from Costa Rica, mangoes from Peru and Brazil) after becoming producers in the Ivory Coast (one thousand hectares cultivated). To date, we sell 45 000 tons of fruit and vegetables, including 15 000 tons of tomatoes (25% French as a Savéol panel member), 12 000 tons of pineapples (60% Ivory Coast, 40% Costa Rica), 5 000 tons of mangoes (Costa Rica, Ivory Coast, Senegal), 4 000 tonnes of string beans (50% Kenya, Morocco, Burkina Faso) and 3 000 tons of citrus fruit (Spain, Portugal). Our volumes from French production are close to 10 000 tonnes. Our clientele includes large and medium-sized retailers (40%), wholesalers (30%), importers from the EU (15%), the producers’ floor (10%) and the catering trade (5%). As we are wholesalers, importers and producers, we have a control on the products, costs and end clients, while avoiding intermediaries and competition. To counter the growth of Belgian and Dutch competition in the Ile-de-France market, French producers and Rungis need to join forces.”

For a growing number of producers, their development strategy demands a physical set-up at Rungis Market, either by taking over efficient, well-established businesses at the Market, or by creating a new entity.

Yves Gidoin
(Managing Director of the Cooperative Fleuron d’Anjou - Chairman of FDA International and its subsidiary La Renomière at Rungis – French Overseas Trade advisor)

“Set up in 1962, Fleuron d’Anjou is a farming cooperation from the Val de Loire region operating in fruit and vegetables and ornamental horticulture. It reported a consolidated turnover of €50 million in 2010, divided between the two sectors. It groups 130 fruit and vegetable producers and 20 horticultural businesses, on a thousand hectares of farmland. We have a wide range of fruit and vegetables, with early fruit and vegetables, red berries, asparagus, rare vegetables, traditional shallots, bunch vegetables, beans, garden peas, and mixed vegetables.  In ornamental horticulture, we are the French specialists in outdoor plants (70 million plants in production).
In 2006, we acquired a very positive operation that opened up many projects when we bought La Renomière located at Rungis Market. Rungis is an ideal observatory, at the core of the business and, as part of our export development, the international dimensions are a decisive factor. Rungis is also a bridge between the different distribution segments, the place where you get the best feel for the wholesale trade. Rungis offers real opportunities to promote productions and we have therefore considered setting up a sales outlet there. Markets are becoming more complex so we have to explore new ways of developing tied to proximity and innovation.”

Jean-Philippe Landrieu
(Managing Director of Penja-Cie des Palmes – horticultural sector at Rungis)

“We sell a broad range of exotic flowers, plants and foliage (1500 listed products) that come from our farm in Cameroon (in Penja) or about thirty countries. I initially ran this production in the Cameroon for someone else, part of which was sold through wholesalers from Rungis. However, due to poor results, I then took a stand at Rungis, the central, essential source for the florist profession. In 1986, I met Jean-Yves François and we became partners to develop the Penja company at Rungis (from 15 m2 to 1 200 m2 today). As we now own our farm in the Cameroon (250 hectares), we have great freedom in our production choices (varieties, quantities) and to expand our line and product to order, knowing that 100% of this production is sold by Penja at Rungis. In this way we are far more reactive and independent.”

 "The Univeg group is originally from Belgium and it operates in twenty five countries and has 9 500 permanent employees. Our activity is broad and diverse, covering the fruit and vegetables sector (85% of our total turnover of €3.3 billion and 20 000 ha of plantations) and all of its businesses (production, export, transformation, logistics, distribution, full-service wholesale, etc.). The same is true for flowers and plants (production, shipping, import, full-service wholesale). We are also logisticians via the complete management of major hubs for large retailers in Europe, and specialists in ready-to-use fresh produce. After several mergers and acquisitions including Katopé France, Univeg is now the largest group in the world (excluding bananas) in its sector. Our development is defined on three key markets: France, England and the USA. On the French market, we had to become a major player by buying Katopé France, because of its specific positioning (present in French and English markets and the exotic produce market, a producer in South Africa, Costa Rica and Brazil) and its place at Rungis. To be strong in the French market, you have to be strong at Rungis. So that is why we have invested in a modern logistics platform of 10 000 m2 in the Eurodelta zone of Rungis because we are at Rungis to develop our strategy."

Francis Duriez