Lebanon might be facing a wheat crisis with the onset of the war in Ukraine, as it imports the bulk of its wheat supplies from the eastern European country. Amid the crippling Lebanese economic crisis, people fear the state will be unable to provide the market’s need for wheat to produce bread.
Lebanon imports about 50,000 tons of wheat per month to cover the market’s need for bread and its derivatives, amounting to about 600,000 tons annually.
“Lebanon imported 630,000 tons in 2021; 520,000 tons of which were from Ukraine, i.e., 80% of the total imports. The rest was imported from Russia, Moldova and Romania,” Hoteit explained.
Lebanon used to store wheat for local consumption for about four months, but the August 2020 Beirut port explosion destroyed the grain silos at the port, so Lebanon now stores its monthly need of wheat in the warehouses of 12 mills.
