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The explosion also completely destroyed the grain silos in the port. LEHTIKUvA / AFP
AFP
The huge explosion in Beirut could lead to a shortage of bread in the next few days, as the explosion also completely destroyed the grain silos and at least 15,000 tonnes of wheat in the port.
In any case, Lebanon’s food supply is almost entirely dependent on imported food, with an estimated 85% of food being imported.
The loss of grain silos knows hard times for Lebanese bakeries and, of course, also for consumers, whose purchasing power is otherwise quite stingy as a result of hyperinflation and unemployment.
– We were already in trouble because there was little wheat and flour. The mills did not produce wheat and, on the other hand, often did not even have fuel to grind grain, says Ghassan Bou Habib, who represents the country’s bakery industry.
“We sold all the bread”
The day after the explosion, hundreds of people lined up at the Al-Kaboushieh bakery in the Hamra district of Beirut to hoard bread.
– We sold everything. Everyone bought five bags instead of one because there was no information because they get bread again. Bread is the only way for the poor to fill their stomachs. We can’t afford to sit down to eat steaks, said Hayder Mussawi, who works at the bakery.
Authorities have tried to calm the bread hysteria by saying there are still stocks of wheat for at least a month, and new wheat ships are coming this week to Lebanon’s two other ports in Tripoli and Sidon.
However, according to Moussa Khoury, who was in charge of grain stocks in 2014-2017, this is not enough.
– There is no one like the port of Beirut: cargo ships were unloaded from wheat cargo around the clock, Khoury said.
Hundreds of tons of explosives were found in the port of Chennai
Hundreds of tons of similar ammonium nitrate have been spilled in an Indian port for years, causing the Beirut explosion, authorities confirmed on Friday.
Authorities woken up by the Beirut explosion ordered an inspection of the country’s ports and found 690 tons of ammonium nitrate in the port of Chennai in South India.
The substance stored in a total of 37 containers entered the country in 2015 from South Korea. The substance had been ordered by an Indian company to be used in the manufacture of fertilizers, but the substance ended up in seizure because it could have been used as an explosive.
According to local customs authorities, the substance has been stored safely and is currently being sold. According to the authorities, they are fully aware of the dangers of the substance and act accordingly.