New Sugar Beet Processing Factory !

Xenophile

If there is a new Sugar Beet processing factory to be established in Ireland, and this now appears very likely I suggest that it be located at Redmondstown , Clonmel.

This area is already the home to Magners/Bulmers cider. Many tons of apples are shipped in there each year for processing and cider shipped out.
Medite Europe is a next door neighbour to the cider factory and truck and trailer loads of logs arrive at the factory each day for processing for the manufacture of Medium Density Fibre Board

Medite Europe is the manufacturer of Medite, the leading European brand of Medium Density Fibreboard. From their production and research plant in Clonmel, Ireland, they supply a wide range of MDF products to meet the diverse needs of users, specifiers and designers across Europe and beyond. The company has a production capacity of over 410,000 m3 in their plant in Clonmel.

A rail line runs quite close by and spur lines could be constructed to carry raw and finished product to the three factories.

Last and not least South Tipperary is a very strong traditional sugar beet growing area and the crop prospers here.

Duggys Housemate

um, ok.

gaius c

Do you work for Medite Europe Xenophile?

Xenophile

gaius c wrote: »

Do you work for Medite Europe Xenophile?

No and never did. I am a pensioner aged over 66 so I doubt if they will be headhunting me. By all accounts they are a good company to work for.

jimmycrackcorm

Sugar beet is uneconomical to produce in Ireland.

Xenophile

Bid to revive sugar beet industry in 2015

THE GOVERNMENT will attempt to revive the Irish sugar beet industry in 2015 if it can agree an arrangement on sugar production quotas with the European Commission, the Minister for Agriculture has said.

Simon Coveney said the skill set existed in the State to grow and harvest sugar and he would “certainly like to see a situation where we could be processing our own sugar”. He said this would also be contingent on the commercial feasibility of building a €200 million to €300 million processing plant.

In 2006, Greencore controversially closed the State’s last sugar plant in Mallow, Co Cork, with the loss of 320 jobs, following EU sugar policy reforms. The company said the changes to the sugar regime would result in unacceptable losses. However, in 2010, a report by the European Court of Auditors found that the closure of the factory was needless because the business was profitable at the time.

In July, two groups presented plans for reviving the industry to the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Mr Coveney told RTÉ’s Today with Pat Kenny yesterday he would like to see the Republic re-enter the industry when the quota system expires in 2015.

“In my view there is a possibility, if not a likelihood, that Ireland will get back into the sugar processing business in the future.”

He said he would like to see the abolition of quotas, but admitted that a compromise was more likely. “It will be my job to make sure that if the sugar quota register does get extended beyond 2015 that Ireland will be allowed to access a quota that will be sufficient to fulfil the needs of its own home market.” Irish Times Wednesday 26th. June 2013.

gaius c

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Sugar beet is uneconomical to produce in Ireland.

Yup. The old ADM plant in Cork used to import molasses (from sugar beet) from Poland to make citric acid. I innocently asked why they didn't use molasses produced up the road in Mallow and they laughed at me. The Mallow plant was heavily subsidised to keep the jobs there and was still more expensive than Polish molasses in bulk buys. The septic tiger killed that off and we won't make a dent in unemployment figures until we tackle our cost base and bring jobs like that back.

Pete_Cavan

Site between Thurles and Urlingford already chosen;

http://www.independent.ie/business/farming/beet-ireland-to-set-up-home-at-lisheen-mines-29093690.html

LISHEEN Mines in Co Tipperary is set to be unveiled as the site for BEET Ireland's new sugar factory later this week.

The 250ac mine is in the process of winding down this year or early in 2014, according to documents lodged with the EPA by Indian owners, Vedanta Resources.

L1011

Suggesting putting it near two other large factories on a very poor road doesn't really make much sense. Neither of those plants will benefit from rail access either, so putting it [anywhere else] with rail access makes far more sense.

Tipp Man

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Site between Thurles and Urlingford already chosen;

http://www.independent.ie/business/farming/beet-ireland-to-set-up-home-at-lisheen-mines-29093690.html

I believe that the Lisheen site is no longer an option and other sites are being considered. Not sure why

Personally i will be very surprised if this gets off the ground - the capital investment required is huge and i really can't see tillage farmers forking out the kind of cash needed to get the plant built - even with outside finance.

gaius c

MYOB wrote: »

Suggesting putting it near two other large factories on a very poor road doesn't really make much sense. Neither of those plants will benefit from rail access either, so putting it [anywhere else] with rail access makes far more sense.

What's the point of sticking it on a rail line? We don't have freight rail capacity and the only freight we've run in the last century was IFI in Marino Point in Cork (Arklow plant may have had it as well, I'm not sure).

L1011

gaius c wrote: »

What's the point of sticking it on a rail line? We don't have freight rail capacity and the only freight we've run in the last century was IFI in Marino Point in Cork (Arklow plant may have had it as well, I'm not sure).

Erm. We're running rather a lot of rail freight right now. Tara Mines, Coca Cola traffic from Ballina, various container trains, wood for Coilte. All this while Irish Rail close freight yards and so on.

Also, all the beet came by train to previous factories.

gaius c

I stand corrected.

cannonballer

The biggest problem with this is the price of Natural Gas but not only the price of the gas more importantly the capacity price paid to BGE Networks.

I can't see this being economically viable in Ireland with the cost of energy required to process the sugar.

hfallada

Irish output per acre of sugar is half of that of France. It's not economical to produce in Ireland.

Xenophile

MYOB wrote: »

Suggesting putting it near two other large factories on a very poor road doesn't really make much sense. Neither of those plants will benefit from rail access either, so putting it [anywhere else] with rail access makes far more sense.

As I said in an earlier post the Limerick to Waterford rail line runs quite close to the suggested site and would only necessitate short spur lines.

The section of road that would need to upgraded is indeed very short 2km at most, maybe even a lot less if it was located in Magners orchard. All plants could benefit from rail access especially as the price of fossil fuel keeps escalating. The main gas pipe line from Kinsale to Dublin runs quite close to Clonmel, I assume that Magners and Medite already use Natural Gas.

bb12

The amount of beet pulp used for animal feed in this country is incredible and it's all had to be imported since the factories closed down here.

I used to pay €7 per 25 kg of beet pulp nuts which now is almost €11 per 25kg in just the space of a few years. The sooner they bring back irish produced beet pulp the better in my opinion.

Farmer Pudsey

bb12 wrote: »

The amount of beet pulp used for animal feed in this country is incredible and it's all had to be imported since the factories closed down here.

I used to pay €7 per 25 kg of beet pulp nuts which now is almost €11 per 25kg in just the space of a few years. The sooner they bring back irish produced beet pulp the better in my opinion.

All cattle feeds have increased in price. A bag of good ration when the sugar factory closed was less than 5/bag now it is over 8/bag. Bulk rations are gone from 175/ton to nearly 300/ton. Mind you pay 11/bag for beet pulp makes no economic sence.

road_high

Xenophile wrote: »

If there is a new Sugar Beet processing factory to be established in Ireland, and this now appears very likely I suggest that it be located at Redmondstown , Clonmel.

This area is already the home to Magners/Bulmers cider. Many tons of apples are shipped in there each year for processing and cider shipped out.
Medite Europe is a next door neighbour to the cider factory and truck and trailer loads of logs arrive at the factory each day for processing for the manufacture of Medium Density Fibre Board

Medite Europe is the manufacturer of Medite, the leading European brand of Medium Density Fibreboard. From their production and research plant in Clonmel, Ireland, they supply a wide range of MDF products to meet the diverse needs of users, specifiers and designers across Europe and beyond. The company has a production capacity of over 410,000 m3 in their plant in Clonmel.

A rail line runs quite close by and spur lines could be constructed to carry raw and finished product to the three factories.

Last and not least South Tipperary is a very strong traditional sugar beet growing area and the crop prospers here.

Crazy location for a beet factory...no direct motorway access and surrounded by land already wanted for dairy. The obvious location is Carlow as it was before in the heartland of Irelands tillage production and close to M9.

n97 mini

hfallada wrote: »

Irish output per acre of sugar is half of that of France. It's not economical to produce in Ireland.

Output per acre is irrelevant without looking at input per acre.

Aidan1

The amount of beet pulp used for animal feed in this country is incredible and it's all had to be imported since the factories closed down here.

Not quite. The CSO figures show that 7,800ha of beet were grown in Ireland in 2012.

As for the location - the push for this is coming from South Wexford - there's a community of small and medium sized tillage farmers that were highly dependent on the sugar industry. Carlow/South Kildare has some of the best land in the country, but the farmers were never as dependent on it - generally much bigger. Long story short, I would have thought that south Tipp was the best place for it alright.

If it ever gets built - frankly the business case is very dubious.

renegademaster

hfallada wrote: »

Irish output per acre of sugar is half of that of France. It's not economical to produce in Ireland.

hemp did, still does and will into the future flourish here and has thousands of uses for exporting raw or refined into more saleable export products

macraignil

I have found an american native crop called Jerusalem artichoke is very suited to the Irish climate. If there is to be development of a root crop processing plant in the country why not produce something with a higher price than sugar? The Jerusalem artichoke can be processed into a healthier version of starch called inulin or this can be further processed into fructose, which is a widely used food additive that is sweeter than normal sugar. There is even a tradition in the south of Germany of making a spirit from the roots that are first baked before fermenting to be distilled into something similar to pucheen.

Frank Lee Midere

road_high wrote: »

Crazy location for a beet factory...no direct motorway access and surrounded by land already wanted for dairy. The obvious location is Carlow as it was before in the heartland of Irelands tillage production and close to M9.

To be fair it is 10 miles from a motorway. But the land might be better for dairy right enough.

EDIT: Just looked at a map: actually given the actual motorway it is on and close to - the M8 - Dublin is about 2 hours, and Cork about an hour. Limerick and Waterford are about an hour or so on the N24. The M9 is useful only for Dublin Waterford.

Franticfrank

I don't know about this one. The idea sounds interesting in a way but I just don't think Ireland can compete with developing nations when it comes to the sugar business. Just look at statistics on sugar production in places like Brazil and India. But maybe it's worth a shot...in any case it might be best to open any new facility as close to a major port as possible.

road_high

Franticfrank wrote: »

I don't know about this one. The idea sounds interesting in a way but I just don't think Ireland can compete with developing nations when it comes to the sugar business. Just look at statistics on sugar production in places like Brazil and India. But maybe it's worth a shot...in any case it might be best to open any new facility as close to a major port as possible.

Belview port in south Kilkenny is probably a good trade off. Not too bad for the main beet growing areas to access as a bridging point between south Leinster and east Munster where most beet was grown in the past.

twincamman

Any more news on the beet starting up again ??

Justice for the individual

Xenophile wrote: »

Bid to revive sugar beet industry in 2015

THE GOVERNMENT will attempt to revive the Irish sugar beet industry in 2015 if it can agree an arrangement on sugar production quotas with the European Commission, the Minister for Agriculture has said.

Simon Coveney said the skill set existed in the State to grow and harvest sugar and he would “certainly like to see a situation where we could be processing our own sugar”. He said this would also be contingent on the commercial feasibility of building a €200 million to €300 million processing plant.

In 2006, Greencore controversially closed the State’s last sugar plant in Mallow, Co Cork, with the loss of 320 jobs, following EU sugar policy reforms. The company said the changes to the sugar regime would result in unacceptable losses. However, in 2010, a report by the European Court of Auditors found that the closure of the factory was needless because the business was profitable at the time.

In July, two groups presented plans for reviving the industry to the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Mr Coveney told RTÉ’s Today with Pat Kenny yesterday he would like to see the Republic re-enter the industry when the quota system expires in 2015.

“In my view there is a possibility, if not a likelihood, that Ireland will get back into the sugar processing business in the future.”

He said he would like to see the abolition of quotas, but admitted that a compromise was more likely. “It will be my job to make sure that if the sugar quota register does get extended beyond 2015 that Ireland will be allowed to access a quota that will be sufficient to fulfill the needs of its own home market.” Irish Times Wednesday 26th. June 2013.

Funny old world. Patrick Coveney is the Chief Executive Officer of The Greencore Group plc Board. Simon Coveney is the Minister for Agriculture Food and Marine. Patrick joined the board of Greencore as Chief Financial Officer on 5 September 2005.
In closing the Carlow Sugar Factory, Greencore took the decision to consolidate all sugar production at its Mallow site, the Greencore Chairman at the time, Ned Sullivan, said " the consolidation is essential to secure the survival of the Irish sugar processing, and, as a consequence, beet growing industries for the benefit of all involved". He also added " this was a particularly difficult and painful decision" These were all optics to disguise future intentions and it is obvious that it was a commercial decision to gradually wind down the sugar beet industry and to concentrate on " the growth in its convenience food business as good cash generation had helped it to offset tough trading conditions in the financial year to date". At that stage, there were some farmer shareholders, but their power was denuded so that they had no control over matters.

We must remember that they were facilitated in these actions by the then Government, Fianna Fail, when Mary Coughlan was the Minister for Agriculture.
Now, when there is a world shortage of sugar,it is now being accepted by the EU that they made a mistake in stating at the time of the closures that the industry was not viable. As pointed out above by Xenophile, plans are being presented to the Oireachts Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine to revive the industry. Simon Coveney said " he would certainly like to see a situation where we could be processing our own sugar". A peculiar situation - one brother involved in closing down the industry and the other now involved in re-opening the industry!

Looking at the Board of Greencore, most of them have had a multitude of jobs serving with multinationals and state agencies and the banks, and in a revolving circle,the same people keep re-appearing on these boards.

This time around, the farmers should take ownership and full control over the industry decision-making, and by right, because in 2010, a report by the European Court of Auditors found that the closure of the factory was needless because the business was profitable at the time, they should be grant-aided (by the EU) to get the industry back on its feet.

Because of the control exercised by the multinational companies, the EU, and by our own Government (the people who are supposed to represent us) it is essential that home-grown industries (we must grow & make our own products) be assisted and developed to satisfy our own domestic market and scale sufficiently to enter the export market. The farmers must fight and hold their ground, as vested interests will in the future, (as outlined above), try to stymie their efforts. Farmers, this time be strong and determined and run things to benefit yourselves and not for the profit of outside agents. A big hindrance to development will be objections and a quota system set by the EU as evidenced by the damage done to our fishing industry by EU policies and our compliant Governments.

Tea drinker

^interesting. With a headline cost of 200 - 300 million for the factory alone, how can this be viable?

road_high

Things appear in the farming press every few months about this. A site in Tipperary near Lisheen mine site has been mooted, personally think that's a nuts location but anyway.
Also Belview in Co. Kilkenny beside the port mooted. Probably closer to the traditional beet growing areas of Wexford/Carlow and big water/power sources.
Just think it's a mammoth undertaking without the support of some mammoth food multinational providing the investment, expertise, marketing required. Was such a shame the old Irish sugar was allowed to collapse. Another FF Mary Coughlan "gem". The wrong plant was closed too as Carlow was much more central and in a far better tillage growing area.

Voodoo_rasher

"Simon Coveney said the skill set existed in the State to grow and harvest sugar and he would “certainly like to see a situation where we could be processing our own sugar”."

Sugar should not be the sole output of such a facility - how about ethanol as a bio-fuel also?