August 29, 2012

Plans to boost Saudi Arabia's storage capacity of grain silos by 27% over the next three years were unveiled by Director General of the Grain Silos and Flour Mills Organisation (GSFMO).

The Kingdom plans to increase its grain storage capacity from current 2.52 million tonnes to 3.2 million tonnes in three years, Waleed Abdulkarim El Khereiji said.

The added capacity will raise the country's strategic reserve of wheat to cover one year of consumption in the Kingdom from the current 10 months, he said.

Saudi Arabia 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 US and Australia, among other countries in Europe and South America.