With an approximately Ft 20 billion investment, bioenergetic company Mabio will build a bioethanol factory in Csabacsűd, Békés County, confirmed daily Napi Gazdaság information Csabacsűd mayor János Frankó. The construction will start in H2 2007. The municipality and the company have recently agreed, after preparations lasting over a year.

The nearly 60 hectare area slated to host the factory has already been requalified as an industrial zone. The municipality agreed to take part in building the infrastructure of the area. The factory will process maize grown on a 55,000 hectare land every year. Mabio plans to produce a total of 600 million liters of biofuel by 2010. The company has already signed contracts with agricultural suppliers for the corn feedstock.

Mabio has spent about Ft 1 billion on purchasing land for the production units, and counts on annual revenue of €75 million per factory as of 2008, based on current international prices of bioethanol. If the revenue target is met, the firm aims to recover its investments within about eight years. Mabio intends to finance the investment from bank loans and own resources, and is also looking to win state subsidies.

Suppliers of the bioethanol factories will be entitled to a €45 per hectare subsidy within the EU’s subsidy scheme for crops serving bioenergy purposes. Mabio said it expects to generate additional revenue from selling byproducts of bioethanol production. Each factory will yield an estimated 90,000 tons of byproducts a year. (BBJ, Napi Gazdaság)