Blumberg Grain, a leading US-based food security company and the Egyptian Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade toured the newest Blumberg Grain Aggregation and Processing Centers in Kom Abou Rady on Tuesday as part of the Government of Egypt’s Shouna Development Project. The Blumberg Grain Aggregation and Processing Centers replace the dilapidated facilities, known in Egypt as Shounas, which are used to store the country’s locally grown wheat.
The first phase of the Shouna Development Project will be completed on budget and on time. The project is one of President el-Sisi’s most important infrastructure projects, and has been officially classified as a national priority project by the Egyptian Cabinet.
The Blumberg Grain systems will reduce post-harvest loss in locally grown wheat from about 40 percent to less than 5 percent, and save the Egyptian government hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Importantly, the project will reduce imports of foreign grain, and decrease the amount of foreign currency currently going abroad.
As of this month, 100 percent of the systems have shipped from manufacturing plants in the United States and are being installed in Egypt in one of the largest and fastest deployments of food security globally. The Blumberg Grain Egypt team is currently working in 68 sites across 20 governorates to construct up to 12 new systems each week until all 93 are complete by the end of April.
“We are pleased to commission our Shouna in Beni Suif and look forward to completing this phase of the project as promised, before the spring harvest,” said Blumberg Grain Senior Engineer, Bill Stewart. “The pace of construction on this project is nothing short of extraordinary. I would like to thank the Egyptian Government for its assistance in completing the project.”
David Blumberg, CEO of Blumberg Grain Middle East and Africa, added, “This project would not be possible without the determination of President el-Sisi, the forward thinking vision of Minister Hanafy, and critically, the Egyptian Army and Army Engineering Authority who provided essential civil engineering, logistics and structural services over a 1000 km distance, without which we could not complete this project.”
In addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars saved each year by the Egyptian Government, this project will bring significant benefits to Egyptian farmers. All harvests received at a Shouna site will be received electronically, meaning that a farmer’s crop will be assessed correctly and accurate payment will be provided. In addition, the state of the art facilities will allow for shorter wait times for farmers when bringing crops to a Shouna due to more efficient management and operations.
Dr. Khaled Hanafy, Minister of Supply and Internal Trade commented, “These modern Shounas will save crops, help store harvests longer and reduce waste as the facilities are temperature controlled and enclosed to significantly reduce spoilage. We look forward to having all 93 Shounas operational within this harvest season. ”
As part of the program, on March 3-5th, Blumberg Grain held its second Shouna Managers training, taking the total of Shouna managers who have been trained to operate the Blumberg Grain Aggregation and Processing Centers to over 90. The remaining managers will be trained on April 3-5th.
In December, a Blumberg Grain Command and Control Center was opened in Cairo to monitor the Shouna network, as well as the Egyptian Government’s other food security programs, including the government-owned silos and planned logistic hubs.
David Blumberg, commented, “The Shouna Development Project is bringing the highest levels of food security technology toEgypt and will make it the food security hub of the Middle East and Africa.”
Blumberg Grain is currently preparing for the second phase of the Shouna Development Project, which, as described by the Egyptian Government, would see the completion of the remaining shouna across the country, upgrading and improving the entire system. The complete network of approximately 350 systems would provide the Egyptian Government more than $600 million in annual savings.
Philip F. Blumberg, Chairman of Blumberg Partners noted, “Upon commencement of the second phase, Blumberg Grain is prepared to begin construction of a major Middle East and North Africa Manufacturing Plant and Export Hub in Egypt. This Manufacturing Plant investment would be the beginning of a minimum $250 million investment program for Blumberg Partners in Egypt.”
Once complete Blumberg Grain’s MENA Manufacturing Plant will be the largest of its type in the world, employing 1,000 Egyptians at full production. With an emphasis on local content and sourcing through Egyptian SMEs, the Manufacturing Plant will have a US$ 1 Billion impact on the Egyptian economy in the first year, and US$ 7 Billion over 5 years, according to KPMG.
Producing Egyptian-made equipment for grain and cold storage and processing centers, the Manufacturing Plant will makeEgypt the leading provider of food security throughout the region.
Source: PRNEWSWIRE
