British Sugar
 | |
| Formerly | British Sugar Corporation Limited (1936–1982)[1] |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Sugar beet processing |
| Predecessor | Anglo-Scottish Beet Sugar Corporation |
| Founded | 1936 |
| Headquarters | , England, United Kingdom |
Number of locations | 5 |
Area served | United Kingdom |
Key people | Keith Packer (managing director) |
| Products | Sugar Bioethanol Animal feed Topsoil Soil conditioners |
| Revenue |  £714.1 million (2021)[2] |
| £59.8 million (2021)[2] | |
| £35.3 million (2021)[2] | |
Number of employees | 1,400 (2021)[2] |
| Parent | AB Sugar (Associated British Foods) |
| Website | britishsugar |
British Sugar plcis a subsidiary ofAssociated British Foodsand the sole British producer ofsugarfromsugar beet,as well as medicinalcannabis.
History[edit]
Early history[edit]
The company was formed as the British Sugar Corporation in 1936, when the British parliamentnationalisedthe entire sugar beet crop processing industry, under the banner of 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.[3]
In 1977, arights issuedecreased the government holding from 36% to 24%. In May 1982, the company name was shortened to British Sugar plc, and later that year it was taken over byBerisford International.[4]
After a crash in property values affected Berisford, it was sold toAssociated British Foods(ABF) on 2 January 1991.[5]
In 2004 the company took over independent sugar producers Billingtons, which was founded by Edward Billington and Son, as a tea and coffee trading company, in 1858.[6]
Closures[edit]
The sugar refinery inCupar,Fife, closed in 1971 ending the growth and processing of sugar beet in Scotland; in its heyday in the mid-1930s, 1,500 farmers supplied the Cupar factory.[7]In 1981, theEly,Felsted,NottinghamandSelbyfactories closed after a reduction in the allowed sugar quota. This was followed by the closure of sites atSpaldingin 1989,PeterboroughandBriggin 1991,King's Lynnin 1994,BardneyandIpswichin 2001,Kidderminsterin 2002, andAllscottandYorkin 2007. The site at Allscott, which opened in 1927, nearTelford,Shropshire,was closed because it "lacked scale" to be run economically, while the site at York,North Yorkshire(opened 1926), was closed due to the poor crop yields innorthern England.[8]
Of the 18 factories which were owned by the British Sugar Corporation, only four still process beet -Bury St Edmunds(Suffolk),Cantley(in Norfolk, the second and first successful British sugar factory in 1912),Newark-on-Trent(Nottinghamshire) andWissington(western Norfolk and the largest in Europe). The Bury site is also a major packaging plant for Silver Spoon.[9]
The 12 sites already closed have been sold and decommissioned to various degrees – many large concrete silos (for storing the major product, white granulated sugar) still remain even where the sites have been closed, including those at theKidderminsterfactory which was closed in 2002 and sold off in 2006. The concrete silos at the Ipswich site were demolished in 2018, 17 years after the site closed. Allscott has now been completely demolished. Spalding has been replaced bySpalding power station.[10]BPandDuPontare working with British Sugar to build a bioethanol plant at BP's Hull site, as described in an announcement made in June 2007.[11]
Operations[edit]
British Sugar is effectively the sole buyer of all of the sugar beet grown in Britain. This output comes from around 2,300 beet growers throughout Britain.[12]There is however a proposal to start growing sugar beet in Eastern Scotland again to produce bioethanol.[13][14]British Sugar is a supplier of cannabis toGW Pharmaceuticals.[15]
Management[edit]
The former managing director,Paul Kenward,is married to the Conservative MP and Health MinisterVictoria Atkins.[16]He has since been promoted to the parent company (ABF Sugar) as the CEO there.[17]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^"BRITISH SUGAR PLC overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK".Companies House.12 June 1936.Retrieved10 February2024.
- ^abcd"Annual Report 2021".British Sugar.Retrieved18 January2023.
- ^"Tesco drops the Suffolk-produced Silver Spoon sugar in favour of rival".East Anglian Daily Times. 6 March 2017.Retrieved8 April2019.
- ^"British Sugar stake".New York Times.11 August 1982.Retrieved8 April2019.
- ^"Obituary: Garry Weston".The Independent.UK. 16 February 2002.Retrieved15 May2010.
- ^"Our heritage".Billingtons.Retrieved26 May2023.
- ^"Cupar, Prestonhall, Trading Estate | Canmore".canmore.org.uk.Retrieved17 October2021.
- ^"Two sugar plants set to be closed".BBC News.4 July 2006.Retrieved4 May2012.
- ^"The story of sugar in Peterborough and British Sugar".Peterborough Today. 29 October 2009. Archived fromthe originalon 8 April 2019.Retrieved8 April2019.
- ^"Environmental Statement"(PDF).Ramboll. 14 April 2015. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 8 April 2019.Retrieved8 April2019.
- ^"Vivergo opens UK's largest biorefinery plant in Hull as biofuel debate heats up".9 July 2013.Retrieved11 August2015.
- ^Sugar, British (1 November 2023)."Meet our Board".Latest News.
- ^"Sugar beet to return to Scotland after 50 years".Farmers Guide.10 February 2020.Retrieved17 October2021.
- ^"Sugar beet to return to Scotland after 50 years".farminglife.Retrieved17 October2021.
- ^Bradshaw, Julia (25 October 2016)."British Sugar to cultivate cannabis plants in Norfolk for GW Pharmaceuticals".The Telegraph.ISSN0307-1235.Retrieved8 March2018.
- ^Mr P.R. Kenward and Miss V.M. Atkins - Engagements AnnouncementsArchived11 September 2019 at theWayback MachineinThe Daily Telegraphat announcements.telegraph.co.uk
- ^"ABF Sugar meet our executive team".abfsugar.30 May 2024.Retrieved30 May2024.
External links[edit]
- Official website
- British Sugar at Kidderminster
- Ipswich Sugar Factoryphotos taken in 2006
- Exploring British Sugar, KidderminsterArchived23 June 2008 at theWayback Machine
- Exploring British Sugar, Bardney
- Clippings about British Sugarin the20th Century Press Archivesof theZBW
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
- Food manufacturers of the United Kingdom
- British companies established in 1936
- Food and drink companies established in 1936
- Sugar companies
- Companies based in Peterborough
- Companies based in Cambridgeshire
- Associated British Foods
- 1936 establishments in the United Kingdom
- British royal warrant holders
- Sugar industry in the United Kingdom
- Agriculture companies of the United Kingdom