U.S. manufacturers produced approximately 910,000 tons of densified biomass fuels in May, according to the August edition of the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Monthly Densified Biomass Fuels Report. Sales of densified biomass fuel reached 840,000 tons during the month.
The EIA collected data from 77 operating manufacturers of densified biomass fuel to complete the report. The report does not include data on facilities with annual production capacities of less than 10,000 tons, which report data annually rather than monthly.
The 77 manufacturers surveyed for May had a total combined production capacity of 13.32 million tons per year and collectively had the equivalent of 2,429 full-time employees.
Respondents purchased 1.67 million tons of raw biomass feedstock in May, produced 910,000 tons of densified biomass fuel and sold 840,000 tons of densified biomass fuel. Production included 116,036 tons of heating pellets and 795,121 tons of utility pellets.
Domestic sales of densified biomass fuel in May reached 95,895 tons at an average price of $225.54 per ton. Exports in May reached 747,809 tons at an average price of $187.71 per ton.
Inventories of premium/standard pellets expanded to 393,404 tons in May, up from 359,841 tons in April. Inventories of utility pellets fell to 512,502 tons in May, down from 522,635 tons in April.
Data gathered by the EIA shows that total U.S. densified biomass fuel capacity reached 13.41 million tons in May, with all of that capacity listed as currently operating or temporarily not in operation. Capacity included 1.97 million tons in the East, 10.65 million tons in the South, and 797,200 tons in the West.
