Italy helps Egypt build 6 field silos worth LE367M, more are under-progress

CAIRO – 15 June 2022: Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali al-Moselhy stated Wednesday that the Italian government has helped with establishing six field silos, whose value is LE367 million.

Four of those are located in Sharqia, while one was introduced in each of Menya and Menoufeya. The capacity of each silo is 5,000 tons.

The minister's statements came during a meeting with the Italian ambassador to Cairo, as they were discussing the progress rate of the wheat circulation governance project worth LE52 million.

The accomplishment rate has reached 60 percent as the construction of two silos is over, while that of four others is still underway.

It is noted that Italy has granted Egypt €100 million out of €225 million allocated to its southern neighboring states to mitigate the hike in the prices of food and raw materials ensued from the Russia-Ukraine War.

The Egyptian Holding Company for Silos and Storage, affiliated with the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade, announced in a press release in May that there is a plan to build 60 new silos nationwide, and that the capacity of each would be 10,000 tons.

The company underscored that the new silos will be close to the production sites in order to reduce the costs of transport and fuel. It is noted that the construction of 25 silos are funded by an Emirati grant. Further, the company will expand the capacity of a number of silos in Upper Egypt to become 90,000 each instead of 30,000.

According to statements made by the ministry's spokesperson, Ahmed Kamal, in June 2021 and published by Al Ahram, Egypt owns 44 silos having a total capacity of 2.7 million tons.

Kamal added that Egypt's capacity of wheat storage rose in general from 1.6 million tons in 2011 to 3.4 million tons. That is attributed to introducing new silos and improving the wheat storage system in Egypt reducing loss to almost zero percent, after it had been up to 10 percent.

The holding company pointed out in the statement that the expansion of silos' capacities is highly needed currently, given the rise in local production of wheat so as  there has to be space for storing imported wheat that is used in the production subsidized bread.

As for the composition of silos, they consist of cells. Each consists of nine thermometers indicating the temperature of each meter of the cell from the bottom to the top. When the temperature rises, air is pumped automatically.

The cells also comprise sensors that measure the quantity of wheat stored, and a control system that registers the dates of quantities put in and out.