The inspection of food silos hit by floods in southern Brazil can only commence after waters recede, representatives of Brazil’s leading silo manufacturer Kepler Weber told Reuters on Thursday.
The deadly floods that began in late April hit silos and warehouses at the end of the soy, corn and rice harvesting season, meaning potentially full or nearly full bins in Rio Grande do Sul.
There is no official data on how many grain silos and warehouses were flooded in Brazil’s southernmost state, home to 26% of the nation’s food storage facilities, said Kepler Weber’s Fabiano Schneider, industrial and product director.
The impact of floods on food storage units could lead to steep losses for farmers and companies, affect exports and spur domestic inflation.
Some 10 Kepler Weber clients have requested a technical evaluation of their flooded silos, which require expert attention.
Stored grains in flooded silos can produce flammable gases that cause explosions, though no such incidents have been reported yet, Schneider said. In addition to explosions, gases produced by decomposing grains pose a direct risk to people, who can faint from inhaling them and eventually die, Kepler’s technicians said.
Unprecedented floods in southern Brazil submerged entire towns, killed livestock, compromised critical infrastructure, and disrupted grain harvesting.
At the silos, all electricity had to be shut off, compromising ventilation of stored grains and potentially increasing product and structural losses. A 4% rise in humidity levels, irrespective of the grain, creates “exponential” pressure inside the bins, risking their very structure, Kepler representatives said.
Rio Grande do Sul has 4,800 storage units, more than any other Brazilian state, Kepler said citing data from national crop agency Conab.
Kepler’s best-selling silo in Brazil, with a 21-meter (69-foot) diameter and about 20 meters of height, can store 6,000 metric tons of soybeans, its representatives said.