April 19, 2007

UK wheat farmers to sell surplus to ethanol firm
 

Farmers in Lincolnshire are expected to sign lucrative deals worth 30 million GBP to sell surplus wheat to one of Britain's first green fuel production plants.

The agreement would supply 650,000 tonnes of grain residue for the bioethanol plant to be built at Immingham, North East Lincolnshire.

Private firm Bioethanol Ltd has been granted planning permission to build the plant on the South Humber Bank which could be open by early 2009 and is already pursuing contracts with farmers to supply wheat which will be turned into 100,000 tonnes of green fuel. 

Bioethanol Ltd director Andrew Morris said that "hundreds of contracts" with farmers in the region had been signed through farmers' co-operative Centaur Grain.

He said the firm selected the northern Lincolnshire as the proximity of the area is would make it easy to source raw materials.

Although bioethanol has been around for decades, there are currently no plants up and running in Britain.

Although wheat sold for bioethanol production will only attract about the same prices as it currently does for export the growth of the biofuel market in Britain, the demand is still expected to increase on the global market.