CropEnergies mulls viability of bioethanol plants amid increasing costs

CropEnergies has been assessing the capacity utilisation of all its renewable ethanol production plants due to declining prices.
The company based in Mannheim, Germany, said continuously increasing costs could be offset by higher ethanol sales prices.
However, ethanol sales prices have decreased significantly as an increasing volume of imports particularly from Brazil and the US, have entered the EU and UK markets.
Against this background, CropEnergies will continue to carefully evaluate whether it will be possible to maintain the current capacity utilisation of its plants from January onwards.
The particular focus will be on the Ensus plant in Wilton, UK, as increased prices for natural gas and power are putting severe pressure on this plant’s profitability. The plant has an annual production capacity of 400,000 cubic meters renewable ethanol, 350,000 tonnes of dried animal feed and up to 250,000 tonnes of biogenic CO2.
Within the coming weeks, management will closely monitor the energy, grain and ethanol markets and decide whether capacity adjustments or even a temporary shutdown of individual plants will be necessary.
At the same time, CropEnergies calls on politicians to support companies with energy-intense production and to ensure a level playing field on the European ethanol market.