Public Affairs

Key figures 2016

Back to the projects – 2016

Property

With the extension of Paris’s metro system and the creation of the Cité de la Gastronomie – and even hosting the 2024 Olympic Games and Expo 2025 – it was becoming increasingly important to rectify various de facto situations that had established themselves over the years between the different occupants of the areas surrounding Rungis Market.

Furthermore, SEMMARIS is looking at the possibility of extending the Market onto some thirty or so hectares of the surrounding land in order to unlock new development potential.

This planning initiative would certainly help to enhance the offering available at Rungis, notably where packaging and logistics are concerned. Last but not least, SEMMARIS ensures that its field of reference, which prevents any wholesale trading of fresh produce within 50km of Rungis, is adhered to.

It is equally important to look after the Rungis International Market brand, since the Market’s reputation can foster a certain degree of parasitism. In 2016, for example, 20 disputes were settled, with some forty or so still ongoing. Furthermore, new labels have been protected, including the Village Rungis, La Halle Bio and Le Comptoir du Carreau brands, domain names and logos, as well as the Rungis Sticker.

Brand

These initiatives relating to the company’s real estate assets are reflected, where its intangible assets are concerned, in a series of intellectual property-related initiatives. Indeed, it is equally important to look after the Rungis International Market brand, since the Market’s reputation can foster a certain degree of parasitism. In 2016, for example, 20 disputes were settled, with some forty or so still ongoing. Furthermore, new labels have been protected, including the Village Rungis, La Halle Bio and Le Comptoir du Carreau brands, domain names and logos, as well as the Rungis Sticker.

It is important not only to support efforts to promote the Market and the expertise it represents but also to prepare for the implementation of any licensing agreements that may come into play within the framework of internationalising both the concept, for example, and a collective brand. Consideration has also been given to the creation of the latter with a view to identifying the criteria for a membership charter. Such a banner could, for example, be used to identify export operations that are pooled between the various players operating at the Market.

International

A number of advances have also been made with regard to the international policy relaunched by SEMMARIS last year. The first phase in the Moscow partnership agreement signed in late 2015, for example, has resulted in the production of a master plan for the project. At 180 hectares it is expected to be Russia’s largest wholesale market, following a billion-euro investment. Work on the Dubai project, also approved in late 2015, has not yet begun; the first phase is due to begin in 2017 with the aim of laying the foundation stone when Expo 2020 comes to Dubai.

Furthermore, SEMMARIS launched a pre-feasibility study on the setting up of a wholesale market by a private investor in Kazakhstan – a country with only 15 million inhabitants but one that is very well positioned within Asia – in 2016. Likewise, discussions have been held with the Government of the Philippines, which is preparing to build a new city to the north of Manila, and a similar collaborative initiative based on cooperation between States has been undertaken by the airports of Paris. Last but not least, SEMMARIS has launched a study at the request of the municipality of Casablanca with a view to potentially relocating and modernising the Moroccan economic capital’s wholesale market.

Export and regions

A number of new distribution points are in the process of being created and could eventually encourage flows of goods to and from Rungis wholesalers by connecting various platforms. With this in mind, an export group will be trialled in Dubai with five of the Market’s operators. The system was validated in 2016 and a VIE international business volunteer is expected to be recruited over the course of 2017, with trading set to begin in 2018.

In France, meanwhile, SEMMARIS has performed a study for the city of Saint-Étienne, which is looking at modernising its facilities. In association with the groups involved, La Poste and the Caisse d’Epargne, it has responded to the call for tenders issued by Toulouse Métropole which aims to delegate its national wholesale market and the neighbouring logistical zone of Fondeyre as a public service.