Bioethanol plant shut down for a second time

The announcement came less than eight months after it reopened, having previously been mothballed for 15 months.

A spokesman said: “We don’t know how long this pause will be, but we hope that market conditions can improve and are working towards the plant becoming operational again in the near future.”

The closure removes a key market for UK feed wheat – particularly this season, when it has taken low-quality feed wheat from the 2012 crop off the market. But this low-grade wheat has also adversely affected the out-turn in biofuel.

Ensus has been beset by outside influences with the spokesman saying: “Unfortunately, the European ethanol market continues to be challenging as the price of ethanol has not risen in line with input costs and rising gas prices have pushed our costs up considerably.”

He confirmed that the company remained confident of the long-term future of the sector, but it was deeply frustrated by the slow development of the UK and European markets given that Ensus manufactured a highly sustainable product.

Livestock farmers have also benefited from the company’s operation, with the production of a high protein animal feed as a by-product of the bioethanol process.

Ensus chief executive Peter Sopp also confirmed his  confidence in the long-term future of the biofuels sector, saying: “Ensus is able to supply genuine, environmentally- sustainable ethanol to satisfy demand, but – unfortunately – market conditions are working against us at the moment.”

He asked that the government continued to support the use of high-quality, sustainable biofuels.

Meanwhile, the UK’s second largest bioethanol plant, Vivergo based at Hull, has yet to reach its full capacity of just over one million tonnes a year.

“We started production before Christmas and have been ramping up since then, but it’s taking a bit longer to get up to full production than planned,” said a spokeswoman.