Paris (AFP)

Rungis, the first wholesale market in Europe, continues to operate south of Paris to supply the French with fresh products, but had to adapt in record time to the health challenge of the coronavirus, explains its president Stéphane Layani to AFP. .

In just a few days, the market, which weighs nearly 10 billion euros in annual turnover, lost all of its clientele from restaurants, that of canteens, as well as its activity of fresh flowers, after the closure restaurants, schools, universities and non-food shops.

"Confined, we do not consume exactly the same things as when we go to the canteen or the restaurant," explained Mr. Layani to AFP during a telephone interview.

Hence a "very hard" work to reorganize the distribution flows of the 1,200 companies present in Rungis. "We work 20 hours a day," he says.

Thus the shellfish and seafood of fishmongers, the pride of Parisian breweries, had to be sold by the large retailers after the restaurants closed. Bovendis, the catering supplier, had to find other customers for its meats.

These changes have created unusual fluctuations in wholesale prices.

The price of potatoes soared Monday for fear of shortage before the next harvest, followed by eggplant and zucchini imported from Spain, for fear of routing problems.

Fish fell sharply after the closure of the main buyers of seafood, restaurants, which constitute 20% of Rungis' turnover.

- "it is complicated" -

"Despite this, there has been a lot of solidarity to avoid food waste," said Layani. Bosses of distribution usually little present at Rungis, including Thierry Cotillard (Intermarché), "came forward" to buy stocks that remained on the floor, unsold.

"We are no longer at all in the traditional price bickering between producers and distributors," notes Mr. Layani.

"We are at war against the virus and Rungis takes part in the combat, the whole chain remains united, even if at the moment, it is complicated", he admits.

The food of the French confined constituting a strategic subject, the president of Rungis participates twice a day in a meeting with the industrialists of the food-processing industry, the bosses of the distribution, representatives of the ministry of the Economy, and that of Agriculture and Food.

"We try to defuse all the problems", logistics, routing, destocking, "and there are many", he confides: lack of masks for certain employees, lack of employees in certain companies ...

Today, while some doctors are calling for tighter traffic restrictions, including a ban on fairground markets to curb the spread of the virus, Layani says it is "very important" that people can continue shopping on the outdoor markets and that "the food chain holds".

- more prices "in the ear" -

Mr. Layani "called François Baroin, president of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), to ask him if the municipalities could help the markets to organize" by installing barriers to regulate the flow of customers, areas waiting, or by offering hydroalcoholic gel.

Inside Rungis, the already strict sanitary conditions are further reinforced from this weekend.

"We have increased the number of cleaning staff in the morning, the use of foam cannons and high-pressure rinsing, and have banned visits from anyone outside the market," explains Layani. This explains why no camera has filmed the market since the coronavirus spread.

From Monday, a sanitary airlock at the entrance of each pavilion will require each entrant to wash their hands. Contraventions of up to 450 euros will fall on recalcitrants.

Another change, which at least temporarily suspends an old tradition of the wholesale market: the sales area in front of stores will be closed, preventing any conclusion of contract slipped "in the ear" of the customer.

"Orders will be made at the entrance, deliveries to the quay, we have created caesuras to avoid contact and the transmission of the virus", underlines the president of Rungis.

© 2020 AFP