British Sugar's largest UK sugar factory has filed a planning application to build an ethanol plant on a site in eastern England, its manager said on Friday. Melvyn Mallott, manager of the Wissington sugar factory near Cambridge, said British Sugar, which currently produces no ethanol, had submitted the application to local authorities in December and expected an answer in about two months.
But he said that even if the application for a plant with a production capacity of 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes of ethanol is approved, British Sugar has yet to decide whether to build it.
"We still have to see whether market conditions are right before we make that investment decision," Mallott said in an interview, referring to the need to boost government incentives to encourage ethanol production.
British Sugar, the leading supplier of sugars to the UK, believes a 32 pence a litre cut in fuel duty could justify large-scale investment in ethanol, he added.