Naga Ltd, the Dindigul-based firm that has four wheat flour mills in Tamil Nadu, has set up a silos complex to store 64,000 tonnes of wheat, the first such initiative by a private company.

“Our complex has eight silos that can store 8,000 tonnes of wheat each. Without taking the cost of land, it cost us ₹25 crore,” said KSK Kannan, Chairman of Naga Ltd, told Business Line.

The silos go a long way to help the private miller, who require 800 tonnes of wheat every day for milling. “It means we would need one rake of wheat every three days. Getting this done will be a big task as a lot of loading and unloading has to be done,” he said.

In turn, it saves costs incurred on labour and handling besides saving wastage.

The storage bin, set up a few months ago by Turkey’s Mysilo, is a necessity, said Kannan.

Setting up storage bins, however, involves fumigating the stored grains and maintaining the moisture level.

At the International Wheat Seminar here, the focus was on storage.

A group of millers in Karnataka are considering setting up similar silos. They have got in touch with National Collateral Management Services Ltd.

“The idea is at a formative stage and it involves tying up various things such as land, separate railway terminal, equipment. We could buy land as a group but need permission to set up railway terminal,” said Pramod Kumar, Director of Sunil Agro Foods.

Interest in setting up storages is picking up among millers, resulting in some logistics coming up with different offers, including silo bags.

For example, a private firm is floating the idea of silo bags, an Argentine concept. Silo bags, made up of a three-layer film including one to protect against ultra-violet rays emitted by the sun, help in storing grains horizontally over a length ranging from 60 metres to 100 metres.

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