Bio-refinery to reopen after EU closes loophole on US imports

By ANDREW ARBUCKLE
Published on 15/08/2012 00:00

The closing of a loophole in the tariff system that allowed imports of subsidised US biofuels will see the re-opening of Europe’s largest bio-refinery re-open next month.

The Ensus plant on Teeside, which can consume up to one million tonnes of wheat annually, has been closed for the past 15 months because cheap biofuels from the US had been undermining the EU market.

However the European Union’s customs code committee has now acted to close the loophole in the tariff system that allowed the importation of Stateside biofuel to distort the market.

This, together with the ending of US taxpayer subsidies for ethanol in the light of drastically reduced grain yield in the States, has been a major factor in the recent improvement of market conditions for biofuels.

Ensus employs around 100 people directly.

These have been kept on full pay throughout the shutdown and the plant also supports over 2,000 jobs in the wider supply chain.

Apart from taking in the equivalent of approximately 5 per cent of the UK wheat crop, the Ensus plant produces high-protein animal feed from the refining process and this will be of major importance to the country’s livestock farmers.