U.S. manufacturers produced approximately 900,000 tons of densified biomass fuels in April, according to the latest edition of the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Monthly Densified Biomass Fuels Report, released Aug. 20. Sales of densified biomass fuel reached 790,000 tons during the month.
The EIA collected data from 75 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 75 manufacturers surveyed for April had a total combined production capacity of 13.04 million tons per year and collectively had the equivalent of 2,415 full-time employees.
Respondents purchased 1.5 million tons of raw biomass feedstock in April, produced 900,000 tons of densified biomass fuel and sold 790,000 tons of densified biomass fuel. Production included 116,550 tons of heating pellets and 779,578 tons of utility pellets.
Domestic sales of densified biomass fuel in April reached 59,603 tons at an average price of $230.68 per ton. Exports in April reached 730,219 tons at an average price of $207.33 per ton.
Inventories of utility pellets fell to 498,781 tons in April, down from 501,269 tons in March. Inventories of premium/standard wood pellets reached 297,016 tons in April, up from 241,816 tons in March.
Data gathered by the EIA shows that total U.S. densified biomass fuel capacity reached 13.43 million tons in April, with all of that capacity listed as currently operating or temporarily not in operation. Capacity included 1.97 million tons in the East, 10.67 million tons in the South, and 797,700 tons in the West.
