A temporary restart of the Ensus bioethanol plant on Teesside to shore up supplies of CO2 during the Middle East conflict will bring important stability for the areas of the supply chain that use the byproduct for processing and packaging.
British wheat not prioritised
However, NFU Crops Board Chair Jamie Burrows said it was disappointing that the £100 million government investment was not contingent on operators using British wheat to support farming businesses.
“Historically, Ensus has favoured imported maize over domestic wheat as a feedstock, and there has been no reference at all in the announcement to the bioethanol production, which is the primary output of the plant,” Jamie said.
“Investment in food production is critical to the nation’s future and why we need a resilient food system to anticipate geopolitical shocks generated by the conflict in the Middle East.”
“We continue to call on government to commit to retaining a viable bioethanol industry in the UK.”
NFU Crops Board Chair Jamie Burrows
Domestic production traded away
The Board Chair also levelled fresh criticism at the trade deal last year that saw US negotiators secure tariff-free access to the UK for 1.4 billion litres of ethanol and led to the mothballing of the Ensus plant. That followed an earlier decision to close the UK’s only other bioethanol plant, the Vivergo facility near Hull.
“This move calls into question as to why the UK’s domestic bioethanol production was traded away in the US trade deal,” Jamie added.
“We continue to call on government to commit to retaining a viable bioethanol industry in the UK, which also produces highly sought after animal feed in addition to CO2 production. This should open up further market opportunities to incentivise UK wheat being used by UK biofuel plants and allow more biofuels from crops to be used in road transport and aviation.”
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