How does the world’s interest in wood pellets look like?
02.11.2022
Over the past few years, the demand for wood pellets has increased globally, and we anticipate that this trend will continue. To replace conventional fossil fuels like coal in the production of electricity and heat, wood pellets are largely used for power generation.
The largest market for wood pellets is still Europe, and most of its imports are from American and Canadian producers.
The European Union received about 3 million tonnes of wood pellets from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus in 2021. However, the war has rendered this supply obsolete. As a result, by May of this year, the European Union has increased its imports from the US and Canada by 30% in comparison to 2021.
Additionally, there is a sizable demand for wood pellets in Asia, primarily from Japan and South Korea, though Taiwan is also starting to emerge as a market. In the upcoming years, there may be an increase in demand as other nations explore for alternate fuels for power generation.
There are new markets for pellet demand that are emerging in addition to the usual uses for wood pellets, which are for power generation and heating. One of them comes from the manufacturing of steel and cement, where it is used in industrial applications. Another possibility is to create biofuels using them. In the medium to long term, both usages have the potential to develop into growth