British Sugar Corporation
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In 1936 the United Kingdom parliament nationalised the entire UK sugar beet crop processing industry to form the British Sugar Corporation. At this time there were 13 separate companies with 18 factories across the country. In 1972 it began selling its sugar products under the name of Silver Spoon.
British sugar processes all sugar beet grown in the UK and produces about half of the UKs quota of sugar - the remainder covered by Tate and Lyle and imports. British Sugar and the growers fix a contract called the "Inter Professional Agreement" determing price paid for beet grown and the allocation of growers quotas. The National Farmers Union (NFU) is the negotiater for the growers.
In 1977 a rights issue decreased the government holding from 36% to 24%. It was taken over by Berisford International in 1982 and in May of that year the company name was shortened to British Sugar.
It was sold on 2 January 1991 to Associated British Foods (ABF) after a crash in property values affected Bersiford. ABF had attempted to purchase in the late 80s but the stockmarket downturn had stopped their move.
Change
Due to need for continued efficiency in the face of changes to the European Sugar Regime, there has been significant reorgnisation witihn the company. The most noticeable is that the number of factories has been reduced over the years. Closures at some sites have been met with expansion of both plant and the length of the processing period ("campaign") at others. One of the cost effective measures is to increase the front end processing of sugar beet up to the "thick juice" stage (a syrup). This is stored in tanks and processed out of season spreading the load on the crystallisation stages which do not have to be uprated.
In 1981 Ely, Felsted, Nottingham and Selby factories closed after a reduction in the allowed sugar quota.
- Spalding (1989) - closed
- Peterborough, Brigg (1991) - closed
- Bardney (2001) - ceased sugar beet processing
- Kings Lynn (1994) factory closed and production and plant transferred to Wissington - now one of the largest sugar factories in Europe or the world (17,000 tonnes per day).
- Ipswich (2001)- closed, production transferred to Bury St Edmunds and Cantley
- Food development and process research laboratory at Norwich closed, reduced functions transferred to Peterborough and Wissington sites.
- Kidderminster, Worcestershire (2002) - closure, production transferred to Alscott, the only other factory in western England
BP and DuPont are working with British Sugar, to convert the country´s first ethanol fermentation facility to produce biobutanol, at their Wissington factory near Stoke Ferry.
See also
External links
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