£100m bioethanol restart sparks row over lack of support for UK wheat

Concerns have been raised that a £100 million government-backed restart of a major bioethanol plant may fail to support UK farmers, with no guarantee that British wheat will be used.

The government has announced a funding package to temporarily reopen the Ensus bioethanol plant on Teesside, aimed at maintaining CO2 supplies during disruption linked to the Middle East conflict.

The move is expected to stabilise supply chains reliant on CO2 for food processing and packaging, but has drawn criticism from farming leaders over the lack of support for domestic crop production.

NFU Crops Board chair Jamie Burrows said it was disappointing that the funding was not tied to the use of British-grown wheat.

He warned that the plant has “historically… favoured imported maize over domestic wheat”, with no reference in the announcement to prioritising UK crops.

Burrows also said the focus appeared to be on CO2 production rather than bioethanol, which remains the plant’s primary output.

He stressed the importance of investment in food production, saying the UK must build resilience to “geopolitical shocks generated by the conflict in the Middle East”.

The NFU is continuing to press the government to safeguard the future of the sector, with Burrows adding: “We continue to call on government to commit to retaining a viable bioethanol industry in the UK.”

He also criticised last year’s trade deal with the United States, which granted tariff-free access for 1.4 billion litres of ethanol to the UK market.

The deal contributed to the mothballing of the Ensus plant, following the earlier closure of the Vivergo facility near Hull, the UK’s only other bioethanol plant.

Burrows said the situation “calls into question” why domestic production had been traded away under the agreement.

He argued that a stronger domestic bioethanol sector could deliver wider benefits, including the production of animal feed and opening up further opportunities for UK-grown crops to play a greater role in fuel production.

The government said the move was necessary to maintain CO2 supplies during ongoing disruption.