Having gone public last year in June 2004, UK Aim-listed Biofuels Corporation has struggled since April due to delays in bringing production on line. The company is building biodiesel processing plants.

Yesterday however, the stock had a great day yesterday surging 39 to 184p after the biodiesel group confirmed its Teesside plant is on schedule. The group said it has sold 64pc of start-up production and has a strong lists of leads in respect of a further 25,000 tonnes per month - more than three times the 7,500 tonnes per month remaining to match full production.

This is important because the company could now be judged to have sufficient sales contracts to commence full production at its new Teesside plant on schedule by the end of September.

Biodiesel in Europe seems poised for expansion due to non-binding EU targets of 20% blend of biofuels into petroleum fuels by 2020.