{"id":71387,"date":"2025-08-16T14:41:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T14:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/71387\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T14:41:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T14:41:17","slug":"britains-bioethanol-industry-facing-collapse-as-ministers-refuse-bailout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/71387\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain’s bioethanol industry facing collapse as ministers refuse bailout"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JESSICA CLARK <\/a> <\/p>\n

Updated: 16:52 EDT, 15 August 2025 <\/p>\n

Britain’s bioethanol industry is facing collapse after the Government refused a taxpayer bailout, putting thousands of jobs at risk.<\/p>\n

One of the country’s biggest plants has announced plans to close.<\/p>\n

It came following the decision to withhold financial aid after Labour gave the go-ahead for cheap US imports to flood the market.<\/p>\n

Hull-based Vivergo, which is owned by London-listed Associated British Foods (ABF), said the choice not to support a ‘key national asset’ was ‘deeply regrettable’. About 170 jobs are at risk, as well as 4,000 roles in the supply chain.<\/p>\n

Unions said ‘the Government is choosing to effectively ship jobs abroad’. Bioethanol, which is made from wheat, corn or sugar beet, is added to products including E10 petrol.<\/p>\n

The future of the sector was thrown into doubt by Keir Starmer’s trade pact with Donald Trump, which opened the door to tariff-free imports of 1.4billion litres of ethanol from across the Pond. The deal, which removed a 19 per cent levy, sparked fears that domestic suppliers would be unable to compete, and British wheat farmers would be left without a vital source of demand.<\/p>\n

\"Struggle:\u00a0The <\/p>\n

Struggle:\u00a0The future of the sector was thrown into doubt by Keir Starmer’s trade pact with Donald Trump<\/p>\n

Bioethanol makers Vivergo Fuels and Ensus had warned that without government support they would be forced to close after the agreement made their businesses ‘commercially unviable’. But the German-owned Ensus plant in North Yorkshire will continue to hold talks with ministers.<\/p>\n

That is because it also makes nearly a third of the UK’s commercial carbon dioxide, a by-product of bioethanol used in fizzy drinks and the medical and nuclear industries.<\/p>\n

ABF warned that clean energy jobs would move overseas. It said: ‘In making this decision, the Government has thrown away billions in potential growth in the Humber, a sovereign capability in clean fuels that had the chance to lead the world.’<\/p>\n

The Government said it had taken ‘the difficult decision not to offer direct funding as it would not provide value for the taxpayer or solve the long-term problems the industry faces.’<\/p>\n

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\n Britain’s bioethanol industry facing collapse as ministers refuse bailout<\/p>\n