Overview

• Vivergo Fuels has confirmed it will close its Saltend facility near Hull, putting about 160 employees at risk and ending operations at the UK’s largest bioethanol plant.
• A Department for Business and Trade spokesman said direct funding would not deliver value for taxpayers or resolve the industry’s long-standing competitiveness challenges.
• The May UK–US Economic Prosperity Deal cut the 19% tariff on the first 1.4 billion litres of US bioethanol to zero, intensifying price pressure on loss-making domestic producers.
• The shutdown endangers regional supply chains for high-purity CO2 used by the NHS and food manufacturers and threatens a price floor for wheat, while Ensus’s Redcar plant also remains at risk.
• Industry proposals for higher blending mandates, targeted subsidies and using bioethanol feedstocks for sustainable aviation fuel have yet to be adopted by ministers.