Residents rush to stock up on bread after the loss of the country’s main wheat silo
The morning after two explosions ripped through the Lebanese capital, stunned residents struggled to find daily necessities in a city strewn with broken glass and other debris.
With smoke still rising from the portside wreckage of the blast site, there were long queues at ATMs and sparsely stocked bakeries as panic buyers flocked to stores in fear of a bread or wheat shortage.
The incident destroyed the nation’s main wheat silo and left Beirut port largely unusable.
Bread lines are already a common site in Lebanon, with the country suffering a severe economic crisis.
Imports are prohibitively expensive, forcing the central bank to dip into its reserves to subsidise items such as wheat, fuel and medicine.
The Tripoli port in north Lebanon will now serve as the country’s main shipping centre, with wheat a priority – the country has grain reserves for “a bit less than a month”, the Lebanese Economy Minister Raoul Nehme said.
Paul Boulos, owner of Sea Slim bakeries, which has three branches in Beirut, said his bakeries were not damaged in the explosion and were open.
But he was not sure what affect the loss of wheat stores would have on his business. “Of course I have to open, we have to work and live,” he told The National.
“They say that the wheat containers have exploded ... I bought wheat this morning with no problems but I need one to two tonnes a day. Will there be wheat, will there be no wheat? No idea.”
With all the glass shattered at the bakery that supplies his shops, he said it would cost him $10,000 (Dh36,725) to make the necessary repairs.
Lebanon relies on privately owned mills to import wheat from Ukraine, Russia and other European countries.
The government used to buy wheat from local farmers at above-market prices but has not done so in years.
Mr Nehme said the country needed about three months of supply to be food secure.
But the government has the crisis in hand, he said.
“There is no bread or flour crisis,” he said.
“We have enough inventory and boats on their way to cover the needs of Lebanon in the long term. We are currently looking for storage areas.”
Other business owners suffered a more direct blow to their shops.
Simon Douaihy, who owns a 70-year-old sweet shop in the Sassine neighbourhood of Beirut, said it would take two to three months before the glass in its shattered facade was replaced.
“Everybody in the country needs glass now,” he said.