There is some unrest among French wholesalers. No surprise of course as the industry is not renowned for seeing the sunny side of the job everyday. The reason for the disquiet this time though is pallets.

At the end of last year, French pallet hiring company LPR decided to withdraw from the fresh produce sector. LPR said dealing with this industry was too expensive, as its pallets are often lost or re-used by a fragmented trade.

So with LPR out, who’s left? Chep and its blue pallet. At the beginning of 2004, Chep decided to exclude wholesalers - and particularly those located on markets - from its list of companies that could receive the ‘bleue’ pallets. It seems Chep was trying to push primary users of its pallets into becoming partners, to be safe from what we must call blacklisting. Retribution and discount for those accepting or otherwise of the deal were in balance.

The French fresh produce wholesale union was quick to respond. An official mail was sent to Chep France asking for clarification of the situation. A meeting was held with Interfel.

Some might ask what the problem is. But, there is a clear and present danger that large French producers could bypass the wholesale markets because they cannot receive Chep pallets.

The union rightly sees this as commercial discrimination. Most of its members do not have the facility to handle and stock pallets, whatever colour. On the other hand, small fruit and vegetable retailers or public service caterers are in exactly the same position, but not blacklisted by Chep.

The file is still open but this obviously underlines the need for the French industry as a whole to work and find integrated packaging solutions, to address what is a very expensive problem for everyone.