U.S.-Based 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

MIAMI, Dec. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- 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.