Greenergy, one of Europe’s major producers of biodiesel made from waste materials, has temporarily halted operations at its plant in Immingham, Northeast England, as of May 20. The company announced that the pause is to allow for a review of the facility’s future, saying the UK’s biofuels sector is currently facing serious commercial challenges. All staff at the site will stay employed during the review, reports Greenergy.
Despite efforts to reduce costs, Greenergy said current market conditions remain difficult. This decision is a stark reflection of the broader problems confronting the UK’s renewable fuels industry, where domestic biofuel production is increasingly at risk.
While the global outlook for biodiesel remains positive—driven by stricter environmental policies and improved production technology—the situation in the UK is moving in a different direction. Industry organizations like the Renewable Transport Fuel Association (RTFA) have repeatedly warned that a series of harmful policy decisions are putting UK producers at a disadvantage.
One of the key problems is the influx of low-cost, often subsidized, imported biofuels. The UK’s removal of trade protections on biodiesel imports from the United States has opened the door to a surge of subsidized fuels such as hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO). In addition, cheaper fuels from China, also believed to be heavily subsidized, are pushing UK-made products out of the market. This has created a pricing imbalance that local producers are struggling to overcome—even with strict cost-saving measures in place, as seen at the Immingham facility.
Regulatory issues are also adding to the pressure. The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO), which supports the use of renewable fuels in transport, has seen its targets remain flat, a move that industry leaders say does little to support domestic growth. There is also concern over policies that allow certain by-products to count twice towards meeting renewable fuel targets. Critics argue this reduces the environmental benefit and may drive up consumer costs.
Moreover, the rules around which feedstocks qualify under government fuel mandates—like the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Mandate—are also under review. Many in the industry believe these rules should be expanded to support a wider range of fuel types, including bioethanol.
The temporary closure of the Immingham plant mirrors a similar decision by Argent Energy, which shut its facility in Motherwell, Scotland, last year. At the time, the company pointed to overwhelming competition from low-cost Chinese imports and the loss of trade protection as key reasons for the closure.
As Greenergy reassesses the future of its Immingham operation, its move highlights the fragile state of the UK’s domestic biofuel sector—a sector caught between global growth opportunities and local policy challenges.
