Saudi Arabia establishes grain storage company

Saudi Arabia has launched the National Grain Supply Company (SABIL) to manage grain operations and strategic reserves to strengthen the country’s food supply chain as the first fully-owned local investment of the Saudi Agriculture & Livestock Investment Company (SALIC) under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture.

SABIL, announced April 15 with a ceremony at the ministry office, will operate 14 branches of silos in various regions of the country, including four in ports — Jeddah Islamic Port, King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam, Yanbu Commercial Port and Jazan Port — with a total storage capacity of more than 2.7 million tonnes.

SABIL continues the transformation of the General Grains Organization into the General Food Safety Authority with operational tasks moving to SALIC, which is wholly owned by Saudi Arabi’s Public Investment Fund. SALIC consequently established SABIL to be responsible for silo and strategic wheat reserve system management.

In remarks during the launch ceremony, Abdulrahman bin Saud Al Owais, chief executive officer of SABIL, said the company’s vision is to empower the grains sector through operational excellence in the supply chain, and its mission is to strengthen strategic partnerships and provide solutions and support to all partners, from producers to consumers.

Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al-Fares, governor of the General Food Safety Authority, said the authority will continue to supervise purchasing of local and imported wheat during the first phase of the transfer, while SABIL has begun to assume the handling of wheat from ports to milling companies and silo management.

SALIC was formed in 2011 to secure food supplies for Saudi Arabia, a country of just over through mass production and investments.

Sulaiman Abdulrahman AlRumaih, CEO of SALIC Group, said leveraging SABIL’s infrastructure also would provide storage and logistics solutions for the private sector, commercial opportunities that would further strengthen its supply chain capabilities.

Saudi Arabia is projected to import 3.2 million tonnes of wheat during marketing year 2025-26, according to the Foreign Agricultural Service of the US Department of Agriculture with the country expected to produce 1.5 million tonnes of the grain. Beginning stocks are forecast to be 4.09 million tonnes.

Tags: Saudi Arabia, grain storage