EU wood pellet imports from US slow down but demand remains strong

After years of growth, US wood pellets exports to the European Union countries were still on the rise during January-October 2016 but at a slower pace as compared to the previous years.

The EU countries imported 14% more wood pellets from the US during the mentioned period, as compared to the corresponding time of 2015.

The UK is the top importer of US wood pellets and its imports increased by 17% during January-October, amounting to 3.3 million tonnes.

According to the Eurostat latest statistics, Belgium's wood pellets imports from the US reached 490,917 tonnes.

Belgium's imports dropped by 6% as compared to January-October 2015, when the country imported 523,776 tonnes of wood pellets from US.

France increased its wood pellets imports from the US with a total volume of 38,000 tonnes, as opposed to the 12,917 tonnes from the mentioned period of last year.

Wood pellets imported by EU from US (in tonnes )

Importing country	January-October 2015	January-October 2016	Change in %
UK	2,981,299	3,396,465	17%
Belgium	523,776	490,917	-6%
France	12,917	64,987	403%
Denmark	28,367	31,400	11%
Netherlands	32,963	22,092	-33%
Others	39,949	16,104	-60%
EU total	3,529,271	4,022,004	14%