Swedish-owned BKZ Beruházásfejlesztő Zrt, a subsidiary of Europe’s leading bio-ethanol trader Svensk Etanolkemi AB, is planning to launch a Euro 377 million project in cooperation with EBP Európai Bioenergia Zrt that will create bio-ethanol plants in Gönyü near Győr, Marcali and Mohács in southwestern Hungary, and Kaba, eastern Hungary. In the fall of 2008, the plants will start to produce a total of 600 million liters of this environment-friendly fuel additive per year plus 400,000 tons of high-quality livestock feed as a by-product from 1.5 million tons of grain, BKZ President László Zsemberi said. While legal obstacles for the manufacturing and trade of the E85 bio-ethanol/fossil fuel mixture will be removed by the fall of 2006, and a higher excise tax is to apply to fossil fuels from 2007 and 2008, there is a concern that without additional subsidies the E85 may not be competitive against traditional motor fuels, according to business daily Világgazdaság.
