The Vivergo Fuels bioethanol plant, nestled in Saltend Chemicals Park near Hull, has switched off its engines for the last time. On August 15, 2025, Vivergo announced it would cease production immediately and prepare for closure, a move that has sent shockwaves through the region and the wider UK bioethanol industry. The decision follows the government’s refusal to provide a rescue package, despite months of negotiations and mounting concern from industry leaders, workers, and local communities.
Vivergo, owned by Associated British Foods (ABF), has long been a cornerstone of Britain’s clean energy sector. Employing 160 people directly and supporting thousands more in the supply chain—including farmers, hauliers, and engineers—the plant also produces animal feed for UK farms. But this vital operation has now become the latest casualty of shifting trade policies and what many see as a lack of government foresight.
The trouble began in earnest back in June, when the government entered talks with Vivergo and other industry representatives after the company warned that the newly inked US-UK trade deal posed an "existential threat." The deal, championed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer as a win for British manufacturing, eliminated a 19% tariff on US bioethanol imports. This policy shift, agreed with then-US President Donald Trump, allowed subsidized American ethanol to enter the UK market duty-free, undercutting domestic producers.
ABF and Ensus—the latter being the only other major bioethanol producer in the UK—sounded the alarm early. They argued that the removal of tariffs would devastate British wheat farmers and erode the UK’s leadership in clean fuels. According to a spokesperson for ABF, “It is deeply regrettable that the government has chosen not to support a key national asset. We have been fighting for months to keep this plant open. We presented a clear plan to restore Vivergo to profitability within two years under policy levers already aligned with the Government’s own green industrial strategy.”
Despite these efforts, the government stood firm. A spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade told the BBC, “After working for weeks to understand the financial challenges Vivergo has faced over the past decade, the government had taken the ‘difficult decision’ not to offer direct funding as it would not provide value for the taxpayer or solve the long-term problems the industry faces.” The government did, however, acknowledge the hardship facing workers and their families, pledging to work with trade unions and local partners to support those affected.
The impact of the closure is already being felt. The first redundancies are scheduled for Tuesday, August 19, 2025, with the remainder to follow. But the effects ripple far beyond the plant’s gates. Industry estimates suggest that up to 4,000 jobs in the supply chain—spanning farmers who grow wheat for bioethanol, hauliers who transport it, and engineers who maintain the plant—are now in jeopardy. “This decision by ministers will have a huge impact on our region and the thousands of livelihoods in the supply chain that rely on Vivergo, from farmers to hauliers and engineers,” said Ben Hackett, managing director of Vivergo Fuels. “For years, we have faced unfair regulations that favoured overseas producers because of rules which disadvantaged British wheat growers in favour of US corn growers.”
The government, for its part, has pointed to broader economic priorities. Sources cited by The Guardian explained that the trade deal’s benefits for the car industry—where tariffs were slashed from 27.5% to 10%—and the prospect of future relief for the steel sector were deemed more important. "Government sources said they had to prioritise the 320,000 jobs in auto, steel and aerospace," the report noted, "and added that the ethanol plants had faced financial problems before the US deal."
Still, critics argue that the government has failed to appreciate the strategic value of the bioethanol sector. ABF accused ministers of having “thrown away billions in potential growth in the Humber and a sovereign capability in clean fuels that had the chance to lead the world.” The company insisted that, with the right regulatory support, Vivergo could have remained profitable, pointing to similar plants in Western Europe as proof. “The government’s own commissioned analysis spells out that Vivergo could and should be profitable under that environment,” ABF stated.
Union voices have amplified these concerns. Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, called the decision “a shortsighted decision that totally disregards the benefits the domestic bioethanol sector will bring to jobs and energy security.” The National Farmers’ Union echoed worries that the trade deal, while a boon for some industries, was struck at the expense of British agriculture and rural communities.
Vivergo’s closure also highlights the complex balancing act governments face when negotiating international trade deals. According to sources within the National Farmers’ Union, US negotiators had insisted on access for American farmers to either the British pork or ethanol markets in exchange for reduced tariffs on cars and steel. In the end, it was the ethanol industry that paid the price, with the UK agreeing to scrap tariffs on a quota of 1.4 billion litres of US ethanol imports—the exact size of the UK’s annual production.
The fallout from this decision is not just economic but also symbolic. The Humber region, once poised to become a leader in green energy, now faces an uncertain future. “The loss of Vivergo will be felt most acutely by our dedicated workforce and their families and by the thousands whose livelihoods depend on our supply chain – from farmers to hauliers and engineers,” said an ABF spokesperson. “Our focus is now on supporting the working people at our plant in Hull.”
For the workers at Vivergo, the closure marks the end of a long struggle to keep the plant afloat. “To all my colleagues at Vivergo, I would like to sincerely thank them all for showing such strength and resilience in the face of huge uncertainty of the past three months,” Hackett said. “We did everything we possibly could to avoid closure, but in the end it was the government that decided the British bioethanol sector was something that could be traded away with little regard for the impact it would have on ordinary hard-working people.”
As the plant’s gates close for good, the debate over Britain’s industrial future and the costs of global trade deals is likely to intensify. For Hull and the Humber, the loss of Vivergo is more than a local tragedy—it’s a cautionary tale about the delicate balance between economic strategy, energy security, and the livelihoods of everyday people.
