Latest news with #PaulKenward
Times
12-07-2025
- Business
- Times
Rescue of UK's biggest bioethanol plant snags on wrangle over CO2
Talks to rescue Britain's biggest bioethanol plant are on a knife-edge after the government offered only a partial bailout focusing on the production of carbon dioxide used in fizzy drinks and to preserve food. Vivergo, which is owned by FTSE 100 company Associated British Foods (ABF), is set to close in two months unless a taxpayer rescue can be agreed. The bioethanol sector fell victim to last month's US-UK trade deal after it emerged that Sir Keir Starmer had agreed to a last-minute White House request to let American firms ship 1.4 billion litres of ethanol to Britain each year, free of tariffs. • Britain's biggest bioethanol plant will shut without state rescue, says AB Foods Vivergo operates from its refinery near Hull by taking feed wheat and converting it into bioethanol and high-protein animal feed. The liquid is blended with other fuels such as petrol to reduce their carbon footprint. E10 petrol, for instance, is 10 per cent ethanol derived from renewable sources. Bioethanol production generates CO₂ as a byproduct. The gas can be captured and used to put the fizz in drinks such as lager or injected into packaging to preserve food. The Vivergo works, which employs 160 people directly but helps support 12,000 growers and other businesses, does not currently generate or supply food-grade CO₂. The government wants the works to be adapted so that it can, following a series of summer crises when stocks ran low. Paul Kenward, chief executive of ABF Sugar, said: 'We're not asking for an open-ended subsidy — ABF is not a company that builds its model around long-term state support for any of our businesses, from Primark to Twinings. 'What we need is a stable, predictable regulatory environment that gives British bioethanol a fair shot. If you lifted our plant and placed it in Rotterdam, we'd be profitable. Why? Because other countries haven't skewed the market against domestic producers. And they haven't, as appears to have happened via the US-UK trade deal, accidentally handed their domestic market to another country.' The government said officials would engage this week with Vivergo and Teesside-based Ensus, another bioethanol producer that is reviewing its future. It said: 'This is an industry that has been facing significant challenges for some time, which is why officials and ministers have met Ensus and Vivergo consistently over the last few months to understand and seek options to address some of the challenges.' • Hopes fade of deal to cut US tariffs on British steel exports Kenward said: 'So far, the government's focus in these talks has been on a narrow financial due diligence process and one particular by-product of bioethanol production: carbon dioxide. CO₂ matters — it is critical to the UK's food and medical sectors. 'But support based solely on CO₂ risks locking us into a future that looks like the past of the UK steel industry: a long-term subsidy regime without a path to growth or profitability. That's not what we want, and it's not what taxpayers will want either.' He added: 'If the government persists with this approach to the talks, Vivergo will, unquestionably, close.'
BBC News
18-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
'One week' to safeguard jobs at Vivergo biofuel plant, boss warns
Bosses at the UK's largest bioethanol plant say they will be forced to begin consulting on redundancies within the next week unless the government steps British Foods (ABF) said it was in talks with the government to help save its Vivergo Fuels site at Saltend, near Hull, after the removal of a 19% tariff on imports of ethanol from the Sugar chief executive Paul Kenward said it meant that the government had "given away the entre UK market for bioethanol". A government spokesperson said it was working closely with the industry to find a way forward. Speaking to BBC Radio Four, Mr Kenward said there was "a lot at stake".He said the industry was not asking for a "permanent subsidy", but needed "some bridging support from government until some simple common sense changes to regulation can be made".Mr Kenward said representatives from the industry had met with government officials, including Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds."Unfortunately, we gave a deadline which was the 15th [June]."They asked us to wait for another week – we gave them two – but if we don't hear back from them by 25 June we will have to start a consultation process, which may lead to redundancies," he Kenward's comments follow a similar announcement earlier this week by bosses at Ensus's Redcar bioethanol chairman Grant Pearson said the government needed to come up with a "urgent" solution to save skilled jobs in the region. In response, a government spokesperson said: "The deal agreed with the US will save thousands of jobs in the UK, and we will always act in the national interest."A meeting took place last week with representatives from the bioethanol industry "to discuss their concerns", the spokesperson Saltend plant produces bioethanol which is used in E10 petrol.E10 was introduced in 2021 to help cut carbon emissions and contains up to 10% also produces animal feed, which is a by-product of the bioethanol production process. Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Reuters
03-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Britain has 12 days to save bioethanol industry, says AB Foods
LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - One of Britain's biggest bioethanol producers warned the government on Tuesday that unless it steps in with a support package for the industry within the next 12 days it will have to start closure processes at its plant. ABF Sugar, part of Associated British Foods (ABF.L), opens new tab, and Ensus together account for nearly all of the UK's bioethanol production capacity. "We have 12 days to save this industry," Paul Kenward, CEO of ABF Sugar, told lawmakers on parliament's Business and Trade Committee. Bioethanol is produced from crops such as wheat and is used to make petrol greener and sustainable aviation fuel. Byproducts include animal feed and carbon dioxide, the latter of which faced severe shortages in 2022. ABF Sugar and Ensus have warned that last month's U.S.-UK trade deal, which will see the UK's 19% tariffs on U.S. ethanol fall to zero, on top of existing regulations giving overseas producers an advantage in the British market, have made the operating environment impossible. They have said their plants at Hull and Teesside in northern England face closure. Along with supply chain partners, the plants support thousands of jobs. Kenward told lawmakers that by June 15 he needed to tell farmers whether he could sign new contracts for wheat supply. "Why would I do that unless I have some confidence that the government's going to step in?" he said. Kenward called on the government to urgently level the regulatory playing field, increase the amount of ethanol in UK petrol from 10% to 15% and support the development of sustainable aviation fuel. He also wants the industry to have access to short-term financial aid of up to 150 million pounds ($203 million). Kenward said AB Foods had invested 700 million pounds in the Hull site. 'Once it goes, it goes. Think what that does to future investors in green industries," he said. A government spokesperson said business minister Jonathan Reynolds had met members of the bioethanol sector and senior officials "continue to consider what options may be available to support the impacted companies". ($1 = 0.7396 pounds)
