How did the business start ?

My father, Jean Le Cren, started up a fish-farming business in Breny, near Château-Thierry (02) in 1977. He was one of the pioneers in the organization and standardization of the market for aquaculture products (size, weight, packaging, colouring, etc.) Later on, he set up a production site in the Eure department with a partner. Then, in the 1980s, he developed the Norwegian salmon trade in France. At the time, Norwegian production was about 30,000 tons/year, compared to 900,000 tons today. My father was already selling at Rungis Market with his sales rep, Gilles Letocq. In 1985, after his unexpected death, my brother Pascal headed up the company and moved the head office to Rungis in 1987. He rationalized the company’s management by getting rid of the less profitable activities and refocusing on production, buying a second site in the Eure department in 1996.

How did the business develop ?

We developed the trout and salmon market at Rungis and stopped production at our Breny site, to create a processing and curing workshop devoted to smoked salmon. Salmon represented 50% of our volumes at the time.
Today, we sell overall 2,000 tons of farmed products, with one third trout, a third salmon (including smoked salmon) and a third composed of bass, sea bream, turbot, etc.
When the company moved to Rungis, we developed the trout and salmon business with Market operators and large and medium-sized retailers (supermarkets). When I joined the business in 1991, there was a strong demand for aquatic products. In addition to the trading side, our production activity currently represents 600 tons of trout and 150 tons of smoked salmon. In our trout line (mostly rainbow trout), the company’s top product, we have trout portions (whole trout 300 g), trout cuts (fillets, slabs) and large trout 2/3 kg. As for salmon, we have salmon from Norway, Scottish salmon and organic salmon from Ireland. We have been certified organic (Ecocert) since last year. We also sell char, brook trout and brown trout, as well as an aquaculture line that includes bass, sea bream, turbot, etc.

What is your strategy for development ?

We are moving to a more service oriented policy, with an expanded line corresponding to customer demands and a market that has been up and down, more flexible working hours, greater reactivity and flexibility in supplies. Now that the traceability on farmed products has been fully established, our objective is to offer the best value for money on our products and services.

We are also going to continue working on the basics, which make us specific market actors by controlling our production, processing and trading tools, not to mention keeping the consumer informed.

What do you think of the aquaculture market ?

Marine aquaculture has overtaken fish-farming, and some producer countries like Greece and Turkey manage to supply sea bream and bass at very attractive prices. Aquaculture is still a fluctuating market subject to various parameters like the climate, fishing catches and supply and demand. However, aquaculture allows for greater yield control than fishing, with reliable, perfectly traceable products and relatively stable prices. While this market has grown slightly, the stagnation in the creation of new aquaculture sites over at least the last ten years in France is a shame. The fish market nonetheless remains volatile and difficult as a whole, with fewer producers and fishmongers and greater segmentation. To keep the market steady, we need better value for money and we need to adapt our sales outlets.

What is your view of Rungis Market ?

It is a strategic place where it is important for us to be present. Here we are close to our clients (70%), transporters and logistics platforms for distribution. Rungis is a major showcase with an image that is known all over the world. We can say that Rungis maintains its quality and service standards. However, Rungis should remain a genuine marketplace in practical terms and further develop the notion of service.