| Kippreport.com

Saudi Arabia’s grain storage capacity to rise 27 percent in 3 yrs

August 28, 2012 9:59 by Reuters

Saudi Arabia plans to raise the storage capacity of its grain silos by 27 percent over the next three years from the current 2.52 million tonnes, the director general of the state-run Grain Silos and Flour Mills Organisation (GSFMO) said on Monday.

“Work is ongoing on new projects, which will be complete in the next three years … raising the silos storage capacity to 3.2 million tonnes,” Waleed el-Khereiji said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

The added capacity will raise the country’s strategic reserve of wheat to cover 1 year of consumption in the kingdom from the current 10 months, it said.

Saudi Arabia, the top oil exporter, consumes around 2.9 million tonnes of wheat annually and plans to totally depend on wheat imports by 2016 to save water in the desert kingdom.

Saudi Arabia imports wheat from Canada, the United States and Australia, among other countries in Europe and South America. (Reporting by Asma Alsharif; Editing by David Holmes)

Tags: Grain Silos and Flour Mills Organisation, Saudi Arabia, storage capacity, wheat