VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI, U.S. — Ergon BioFuels, LLC, a subsidiary of Ergon, Inc., said it plans to close its 56.5-million-gallon per year ethanol plant in Vicksburg in December.

Ergon BioFuels, LLC, formerly Bunge-Ergon Vicksburg, began as a joint venture between Ergon Ethanol, Inc. and Bunge North America in 2007. Bunge-Ergon Vicksburg, LLC was one of the largest producers of ethanol in the southeastern U.S. until operations were suspended in December 2012. Ergon purchased Bunge’s ownership in the facility in 2013 and restarted the plant in July 2015.

“Ergon management has made significant investments at Ergon BioFuels over the years and had planned additional improvements to increase ethanol and corn oil yields going forward,” said Kris Patrick, chief operating officer of Ergon. “Unfortunately, continued erosion in margins, coupled with underperforming production equipment and the economic challenges of being a destination plant, forced us to make this very difficult decision.

“We have a family-oriented culture and consider employees to be Ergon’s most valued asset. We will work to place as many Ergon BioFuels employees as possible in our other Vicksburg and Jackson businesses.”