New Britain Oils commits to £9m expansion

NEW Britain Oils is to invest £9m in a new processing facility at its plant in Liverpool.

The business, part of the listed New Britain Palm Oil group, will make products for bakery manufacturers derived from sustainable palm crops.

In a stock market statement the group said bakery fats make up 40% of overall demand for palm oil in the UK but only a small proportion is made from traceable, sustainable palm oil.

It said Bako, the UK’s largest bakery products distributor, has launched a range of sustainable bakery products based on fats supplied by New Britain, and all of the UK’s major retailers have already announced their intention to convert palm-based products to sustainable sources by 2015.

The new facility will make margarines and bakery fats for use in pastries and cakes, puff and shortcrust pastry as well as shortenings and bread fats. Boxed palm oil will also be produced for customers such as fish and chip shops and restaurants

Andy Worrall, director of New Britain Oils, said: “It is clear from the amount of interest New Britain Oils has already had that UK retailers, food manufacturers and the UK government are taking sustainable palm oil sourcing very seriously. With our unique offering, end users know what they are getting, where their oil has come from and that it was produced affordably and to the highest standards of social and environmental sustainability.”

New Britain opened its £18m refinery in Bootle last year. The new facility is expected to be up and running in a year and should double the number of staff to around 40.