In England and Belgium
Quota end opens new sugar factories
In the English county of North Yorkshire, controversial plans are on the table to build an entirely new sugar factory. It should offer 3.500 Northern English arable farmers the opportunity to grow beets again. Residents of the area are far from happy with the plans.
With 4 sugar factories in the United Kingdom, British Sugar has sole dominion in the British beet market. It also refines 50% of all British sugar. All factories are located in eastern England. The northernmost at Den Helder, in Newark. If it is up to the British Northern Sugar, a new factory will be built in the north of England. For this, it receives financial support from Al Khaleej Sugar of Dubai.
36
thousand
Factory for 3.500 growers
Plans for the beet factory were already made public in May. About 10 years ago, British Sugar closed a location near the site where construction may now take place. Since the closure, farmers in the north of England have been banned from growing beet. The plans describe a factory to which the 3.500 farmers in the area can supply. This concerns a total volume of between 24.000 and 36.000 tons, good for 5.000 to 6.000 tons of refined sugar per day.
Lender in Cayman Islands
Backer Al Khaleej International, a company registered in the Cayman Islands, plans to start construction in early 2018. The first beets should be processed in September 2020. The company exports 1,5 million tons of sugar worldwide every year. The construction involves an investment of £350 million, equivalent to €390 million.
landscape pain
Residents of the area are not happy with the plans to say the least. The official planning will start in November, but they want to put a stop to that. A factory ruins the landscape and creates traffic problems on the road network, think those involved. The 80-metre-high sugar storage silos in particular disturb the Yorkshiremen. In defense, the investors say they want to do everything they can to mitigate the landscape pain as much as possible.
Walloon beet factory
Earlier this month, plans were also presented in Belgium for an entirely new sugar factory. The Association des Bettraviers Wallons, the Wallonia beet growers' association, believes that having their own Walloon beet factory gives them a better price for their sugar. That is why it is now planning to build such a factory itself. An own factory must deliver a higher return because the profit is paid directly to the members, just like Cosun does.
Search for funds
A deadline of 2020 is also mentioned for the Belgian factory. This concerns a more modest volume of 14.000 tons of beets per day, which can be processed for 100 days. It is also up to the Walloon growers to grow more beets. Funding options are still being sought to finalize the plans. Maybe they can knock on the door of the Cayman Islands?
Niels van der Boom
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