June 26 (Reuters) -

Associated British Foods ( ASBFF ) said it would close its bioethanol

plant in northern England if the government does not provide the

funding to alleviate the impact of the U.S.-UK trade by the time

its consultation process for a wind down is complete.

The group said it would begin consultation with

employees to effect an orderly wind-down immediately, while

continuing to negotiate with the government.

Under the

trade deal

agreed with U.S. President Donald Trump, the UK's 19%

tariffs on U.S. ethanol will fall to zero, through a 1.4

billion-litre (370 million gallon) quota - a figure equating to

the size of the UK's entire ethanol market today.

AB Foods, which owns the Vivergo plant in Hull,

and Ensus, which is owned by Germany's Sudzucker Group and

operates a bioethanol plant in Teesside in Northern England,

have warned that the deal, along with existing regulations that

give U.S. producers an advantage in the British market, has made

the operating environment impossible.

"Unless the government is able to provide both

short-term funding of Vivergo's losses and a longer-term

solution, we intend to close the plant once the consultation

process has completed and the business has fulfilled its

contractual obligations," AB Foods said.