Port of Beirut grain silo

A grain silo at the Port of Beirut in Lebanon was destroyed in explosions from a nearby warehouse of ammonium nitrate in August 2020. It was constructed in 1968-1970 by a Czechoslovak construction company PrÅ¯mstav. It had a capacity of 120,000 tonnes of grain. The silo served as a strategic reserve of wheat for Lebanon.
The grain silo had been created during plans to expand the port in the 1960s. The plans were advanced by the Palestinian banker Yousef Beidas; he envisaged the silos as part of a larger distribution centre that would integrate the Lebanese economy with its neighbours. The growing population of Lebanon necessitated a large grain silo where grain could be stored in reserve; Lebanon consumed an average of 311,000 tonnes of grain every year between 1964 and 1968, yet produced only 60,000 tonnes. Grain was primarily imported from Australia and the United States and was subsequently managed by the Cereals and Sugar Beet Authority of Lebanon. An estimated 675,000 tonnes of grain was expected to be imported by the mid 1980s.
On 4 August 2020 a large fire broke out in a warehouse 180 meters away from the silo. The destruction of the silo exacerbated food shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and a severe financial crisis in Lebanon. About 15,000 tonnes of grain were destroyed, and leaving the country with less than a month's worth of grain in reserve.

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