In December, U.S. manufacturers produced about 880,000 tons of densified biomass fuels, as reported in the March edition of the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Monthly Densified Biomass Fuels Report. During the same period, sales of densified biomass fuel totaled 960,000 tons.
Data for the report was collected from 76 operational manufacturers of densified biomass fuel. Notably, the report excluded facilities with annual production capacities of less than 10,000 tons, as these facilities report data annually rather than monthly.
The surveyed manufacturers, totaling 76, had a combined production capacity of 12.96 million tons per year and employed the equivalent of 2,467 full-time employees.
In December, respondents purchased 1.79 million tons of raw biomass feedstock, resulting in the production of 880,000 tons of densified biomass fuel. Of this production, 138,810 tons were heating pellets and 750,597 tons were utility pellets.
Domestic sales of densified biomass fuel in December amounted to 147,605 tons, with an average price of $221.71 per ton. Meanwhile, exports reached 813,995 tons, with an average price of $184.18 per ton.
Inventories of premium/standard pellets increased to 1,190,268 tons in December, up from 183,314 tons in November. Conversely, inventories of utility pellets decreased to 428,085 tons in December, down from 555,666 tons in November.
According to EIA data, the total U.S. densified biomass fuel capacity in December stood at 13.05 million tons, with all listed capacity reported as currently operating or temporarily not in operation. This capacity breakdown comprised 1.97 million tons in the East, 10.28 million tons in the South, and 794,200 tons in the West.
