Following the explosion in Beirut, Lebanon has grain reserves for less than a month.

Reuters Lebanon's main grain silo at the port of Beirut was destroyed in an explosion the previous day, leaving the country with less than a month's worth of grain reserves, although there is still enough flour to avert a crisis, the economy minister said on Wednesday.

A day after the devastating explosion, Minister Raoul Nehme told Reuters that Lebanon needs reserves for at least three months to ensure food security and that he was looking at other areas for storage.

The explosion was the most powerful ever to hit Beirut, a city scarred by a civil war three decades ago. The economy was already collapsing before the incident, with grain imports slowing as the country struggled to obtain hard currency for purchases.

"There is no bread or flour crisis," the minister said. "We have sufficient stocks and ships on their way to cover Lebanon's needs in the long term."

He stated that grain reserves in Lebanon's remaining silos are sufficient for "just under a month," but said the destroyed silo contained only 15 tons of grain, far less than its capacity, which an official described as 120 tons.

The Beirut port district was destroyed by the explosion, disabling the main entry point for imports that feed a nation of over 6 million people.

Ahmed Tamer, director of the port of Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest facility, said that his port does not have grain storage facilities, but cargo can be transported to warehouses 2 km away.

“We fear there will be a huge problem in the supply chain unless there is an international consensus to save us,” said Hani Bohsali, head of an importers' union.

UN agencies are meeting on Wednesday to coordinate relief efforts for Beirut, said Tamara al-Rifai, spokeswoman for the Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA.

“People are extremely poor, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for anyone to buy food, and the fact that Beirut is Lebanon’s largest port makes the situation very bad,” she said. “We are looking at Tripoli, but it’s a much smaller port.”

Flour reserves were sufficient to cover market needs for a month and a half, and there were four ships carrying 28.000 tons of wheat heading towards Lebanon, Ahmed Hattit, head of the wheat importers' union, told the Al-Akhbar newspaper.

Lebanon is trying to immediately transfer four ships carrying 25.000 tons of flour to the port of Tripoli, a government representative told the LBCI news channel.