Blumberg in the News

An article was published by ONews Agency titled "Minister of Supply: 3 major projects for the storage of wheat at a cost of 3 billion and 206 million pounds" discussing the meeting between President Abdel Fattah Sisi with Dr. Khaled Hanafi, Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, and Blumberg executive team members to discuss new projects in Egypt. An excerpt follows:

Dr. Khaled Hanafi Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, following the two meetings commented, that the first meeting was with President Abdel Fattah Sisi with the aim of a group of international investors to set up three major projects, the first project at a cost of one hundred million dollars for the construction of the first plant for storage technology and modern logistics warehouses to serve the domestic market and export to markets Arab and African countries.

The second project at a cost of one billion and one hundred and ten million pounds to create the ten modern logistics areas, as the first stage, for the storage and trade of perishable products from fruits and vegetables to reduce production costs, and thus prices, and preserving the rights of agricultural producers, so they can provide the goods and provide to citizens at discounted prices, which provides 40% of the costs as a result of avoiding wastage in the trading, transportation and storage.

The Minister of Supply and Internal Trade said that a third project at a cost of one billion and three hundred and eighty-one million pounds to bring one hundred sixty-four shounas to modern global standards. Instead of dirt barns will use modern technology to suit the conditions of the Egyptian environment, which includes operations of receiving and handling and storage of wheat and grain, and provides about 30% as a result of the cost to avoid wastage in wheat trading operations. Balhun exposed and dirt, as well as the classification of Egyptian wheat for the first time in order to preserve the rights of farmers and draw some wheat varieties are expensive and exported abroad.

To read the full article, click here (for the original Arabic version, use this link). For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blumberg in the News

Blumberg Grain was featured in an article this weekend titled "Sisi with the Head of Blumberg for 3 projects for the storage of grain and fruit" which summarizes a meeting in which President Abdel Fattah Sisi met with Philip Blumberg, Dr. Khalid Al-Hanafi, Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, David Blumberg, Managing Director of Blumberg Grain West Africa, and Christian Rath, Senior Vice President of the Blumberg Grain company. An excerpt follows:

The meeting was aimed at review and discuss three major projects, including the creation of the company's first factory for storage technology in the Middle East, which will serve the local market, and targets integration with the national project of the giant development axis at the Suez Canal, as well as providing opportunities to export to the Arab countries and African countries, where the project will the world's largest in its field, and direct investments worth 100 million dollars.

It also included discussions on project to replace the storage barns (dirt shounas) with Blumberg's modern and advanced technology, which are specially designed to suit the conditions of production and circulation, which is used to store grain and wheat, providing more than 30% of grain crops, ie, 1.2 million tons, which was being wasted due to the poor conditions of storage and handling, and a total cost of 1.7 billion pounds.

The third project would seek to establish a ten areas of logistics, as a first stage, for the purpose of processing, storage and preservation of agricultural products, grains, vegetables and fruits, to avoid wastage of 40% of these crops, as well as the opportunity to control prices by storing these products, and re-launched in the market to set prices and control expensiveness. Note that these three projects were under consideration at the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade, during the past three months.

To read the full article, click here (for the original Arabic version, use this link). For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blumberg Grain in the News

Blumberg Grain was featured in a Ghana Business & Financial Times article titled Blumberg Grain Joins GGC to Improve Grain Storage featuring the company's advancements and partnerships in the developments of the West Africa Manufacturing Plant and Export Hub. An excerpt follos:

As a leader in the industry, Blumberg Grain will provide state-of-the-art food safety and security systems to consolidate efforts of the WRS for increased efficiency in the grain industry through strategically targeted interventions along the grains value chain. The GGC, a non-profit private sector organization funded by the USAID/ADVANCE, established the WRS aimed at helping in the efficient storage and marketing of grains.

Dr. Christian Rath, Senior Vice President of Blumberg Grain, said the company sees its partnership with GGC as an impressive strategy for West Africa — specifically to develop a West Africa Manufacturing Plant and Export Hub to fabricate and distribute their warehousing systems across the region.

Dr. Rath pointed out that Ghana and Nigeria are the finalists for the West Africa Hub location and Blumberg Grain is seeking to reach a selection decision before the end of June.

"If Ghana is selected as the location for the West Africa Manufacturing Plant and Export Hub, it will improve the lives of Ghanaian farmers significantly, create additional employment, increase exports, foster higher education, and help Ghana to become the agribusiness Hub for West Africa," he adds.

To read the full article, click here. For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blumberg Grain in the News

Blumberg Grain was featured in an article titled Blumberg Grain Makes Ghana A Finalist For West African Manufacturing Hub published by The Investor yesterday. The article makes note of an impending investment decision to possibly locate a multi-million dollar Manufacturing Plant and Export Hub in Ghana by Blumberg Grain. An excerpt:

If Ghana is selected, the Blumberg Grain Hub would employ over 1,000 Ghanaians, generate USD 1.25 billion in sales/export, increasing Ghana's GDP by 3 percent, and house an agricultural institute that provides programming on best practices in agricultural development.

Blumberg's investment will make the winning country the major agribusiness center in the sub-continent. Ghana is in contention with sister African economies, but Blumberg's CEO, Philip Blumberg, said he was impressed with Ghanaian Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr. Kwesi Ahoi's response, with whom he had personal contact during his 5-day visit.

Mr. Blumberg noted, "Minister Ahwoi has passion, an understanding of the business of agriculture, and a strong desire to see Ghana transformed into a vibrant and critical agricultural commune. Minister Ahwoi introduced us to his team in Accra, who were extremely impressive as well, both in their technical knowledge and their vision for a comprehensive system for Ghana", describing the response as, "extremely impressive."

Speaking about Ghana, the Blumberg team noted that this country is a good place for the Hub as according to them Ghana's Minister is committed to working within the political system to achieve for Ghanaian farmers improvement and support. "He's very focused on that. And that makes a difference to us because it means not only do we have ministerial support, but we also have a government advocate for the center. I was very encouraged by that."

To read the full article, click here. More news and information is available at Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blumberg in the News

Blumberg Grain, a subsidiary of Blumberg Capital Partners, was featured in an article in The Investor, a Ghana-based newspaper, reporting on company efforts to bring post-harvest losses for the country down to 1%. An excerpt from the article:

Talks are far advanced between global player, Blumberg Grain and Sub-Sahara Commodities, a wholly-owned Ghanaian business, in sealing a partnership deal for a multi-million-dollar investment in Ghana's grain production, storage and distribution industry, an official said on Friday in Accra.

Dr. Christian Rath, Senior Vice President of Blumberg Grain spoke to The Investor after a four-day visit to the west African nation. He held talks with private investment firm, Brooks Asset Management and officials of Sub-Sahara Commodities.

He also met government officials involved in the National Food Buffer programme.

A programme will start in September with the construction of the state-of-the-art warehouse as well as a grains cultivation project in Juapong.

Click here to read the full article on Blumberg Capital Partners.

Blumberg Grain to Establish Manufacturing Hub for High-Tech Grain Storage Systems in West Africa

Site selection under way; Hub country to serve US$6.3 billion West African Market.

U.S.-based Blumberg Grain, a global provider of high-tech, vertically integrated crop and food storage systems, today announced plans to build a first-of-its-kind manufacturing plant and export hub in West Africa. The investment is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs and generate exports of more than US$1.25 billion for the selected host country. Blumberg Grain said Ghana, Nigeria and Namibia are among the locations it is considering.

Blumberg Grain plans to choose its business partners and hub site by the first quarter of 2013 and begin production during the latter half of next year, as part of its global strategy to open such hubs worldwide.

Once established, the West African hub will supply the region with state-of-the-art warehouses and inventory management systems, and food stock management and commodities exchange platforms.

Blumberg Grain's patent pending technology is designed to stem a widening global problem: volatile food supplies due to post-harvest losses of grain, produce, and other perishables. In parts of the world, post-harvest losses have reached a staggering 60 percent. Blumberg Grain's innovative food storage and preservation systems can help cut field and post-harvest losses to less than five percent.

"The selection process for the manufacturing plant and export hub has been under way for several months, and we have had a very high level of interest from many West African countries," said Philip Blumberg, chairman and chief executive of Blumberg Capital Partners.

"Our hub provides a significant advantage over competitors, including companies from China, who tend to source labor and materials only from their home countries. We make a commitment to local employment and training, as well as to working with local companies for steel supply, logistics and engineering services, significantly increasing the hub country's GDP."

Blumberg Grain's manufacturing plant and export hub will initially produce 1,200 warehouses annually. Demand for such technology in the West African region is estimated to be a US$6.3 billion opportunity.
"Our warehouses are both cost efficient and technologically scalable," said Christian Rath, senior vice president of Blumberg Grain. "Each warehouse, for example, can be linked electronically to sophisticated inventory-management systems and global commodities exchanges, enabling countries and commercial enterprises to remotely track their food supplies and take advantage of peak market pricing conditions."

The warehouses are pre-fabricated to be the fastest to deploy in the world. Easily transportable, they can be quickly moved to rural areas to mitigate on-farm post-harvest losses. When erected together in regional centers, the warehouses also can act as large grain and produce terminals, improving the safety and security of the food stores of multi-national enterprises and sovereign state governments.

Blumberg Grain's offerings include a self-contained bulk system that beats traditional steel grain silos on the basis of cost, quality of storage and safety of operations. The system hermetically seals grain in customized containers that hold up to 1.5 tons of grain each. The containers do not require fumigation, eliminating the need to apply toxic chemicals. Such storage eliminates 100 percent of pests that are a major cause of grain damage, according to a 2012 study by Iowa State University.

About Blumberg Grain

Blumberg Grain, a business unit of Blumberg Capital Partners, is based in Miami, Fla., with offices in New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., and an affiliate research and development and engineering center in Des Moines, Iowa.

As part of its international growth strategy, Blumberg Grain will be developing manufacturing plants and export hubs in West Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe.

For more information, please visit www.blumberggrain.com.