Economy & Trade: Feeding Paris

From The Early Halles To Rungis MIN

From the very beginning feeding Paris has been tricky

5th century:

First Paris market called the “Palu” market, was located on Ile de la Cité and later transferred to Place de Grève (now Hôtel de Ville), which was safer when the Seine flooded.

1135: King Louis the VI bought some lands outside the city at the junction of the roads leading to the rich provinces of the North and the coast (now Rue Saint Denis and Rue Montmartre).

1543: François 1er had the existing buildings pulled down and rebuilt new ones using an ordered plan.

1720: The wheat market was built on its final location and became the commodity exchange.

In July 1789, with bread prices at record levels, hungry mobs attacked the gates of Paris where customs collected taxes on incoming grain convoys. The French Revolution was starting

Settling, planning, building: Les Halles

1811: Napoleon I decided to reorganize this space to make it a central Paris location, extending from the wheat market up to the Innocents market.

In 1853 thanks to Baron Haussmann’s iron fist and Victor Baltard’s vision of metal framework new works began. Between 1853 and 1870, ten pavilions were built, divided by an aisle under a glass roof.

From “Les Halles” to Rungis

1929: Specialists suggested that Les Halles should move outside Paris.

1959: In January the decision to move Les Halles outside Paris was made. In December Rungis location was selected.

1969: Transfer of all activities to Rungis, official opening of Rungis Market on 3 March.

Feeding Paris is a challenge: supermarkets work with their own centralised purchasing companies, most of the food that enters Paris comes through Rungis MIN, the world’s largest food market.

Some 1,200 wholesalers are operating at the market, and through countless specialty pavilions spread over 232 hectares, funnel about 1.5 million tons of food to Paris every year.

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