Explosion in Beirut also hits grain silos

The explosion in Beirut on Tuesday, August 4, also flattened the country's grain silos and damaged a nearby grain terminal, said Raoul Nehme, Lebanese Minister of Economy and Trade. However, he does not expect that this unexpected shortage of grains will cause major problems.

The Lebanese Minister of Economy and Trade wrote on Tuesday evening, August 4, that the wheat in the destroyed grain silos may (and cannot) be used anymore. In addition to the grain silos, a nearby grain terminal was damaged by the explosion of stored ammonium nitrate. This means that the country will become even more dependent on imports of, among other things, wheat. 

Lebanon today imports 1,2 million tons of wheat and 900.000 tons of corn annually. The Netherlands also exports to Lebanon every year. In 2018, this involved an export value of €387 million. This mainly concerns products from the categories food & live animals, drinks & tobacco and raw materials. However, due to the devaluation of the Lebanese currency, these imports can hardly be paid for by the government anymore: the value of the Lebanese pound has fallen by 80% since October. In addition, foreign currencies are almost not available. 

'No major problems expected'
It is striking that Minister Nehme does not foresee any major problems. The affected area handles about 60% of all imports from Lebanon and the silos have a capacity of 120.000 tons of grain. "Typically 85% of grains are stored in these silos, but there were no significant quantities at the time of the explosion," trading company Mena Commodities told Reuters. 

The fact that large quantities were not stored is mainly due to the fact that Lebanon has been active in dealing with a bread shortage (as a result of a financial crisis in the country) in recent weeks. However, it still remains a question of how to transport the imported grain to Beirut, as the port has been completely destroyed. Nehme did not elaborate on that.

Kimberly Baker

Kimberly Bakker is an all-round editor at Boerenbusiness. She also has an eye for the social media channels of Boerenbusiness.

k.baker @boerenbusiness. Nl

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