Several thousand French farmers are blocking the exits of food warehouses for a second day to demand a better deal from supermarkets.

The government will not accept a blockade of the roads

Junior Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau

At the same time, the government is hosting talks between hauliers and lorry drivers' unions, in a last-ditch effort to prevent industrial action on the roads.

French householders, supermarkets and oil companies are bracing themselves for chaos in case the lorry drivers start blocking roads on Sunday, as they have threatened.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said the government would act to ensure freedom of circulation on France's roads, but memories of gridlock in 1992, 1996 and 1997 are strong.

UK worries

In the UK too, there was concern that channel ports could be blockaded.

"That will hit both hauliers and trippers," said Geoff Dossetter of the UK's Freight Transport Association.

The action by farmers is affecting 60 main food distribution depots, about one in 10 of the total in the country.

The supermarkets' association say shops will start running short of fresh fruit and vegetables in two days.

The farmers say the supermarkets are raising prices while paying farmers less and less.

The lorry drivers want an extra month's pay per year and shorter working hours.

Panic buying

The country's largest oil refiner TotalFinaElf says it has filled depots to the brim in order to prevent petrol shortages.

However, local television stations said drivers had also started queuing outside filling stations in Nantes, in anticipation of trouble.

France's five-month-old centre-right government is keen to avoid a repetition of the unrest that swept the country from 1995 and led to the demise of the then conservative government two years later.

The European Commission reminded France on Thursday that it has an obligation to keep traffic moving on the roads.

In previous disputes, neighbouring countries have complained that not enough was done to prevent paralysis.