Over 500,000 tons of pellets produced in US in July

576,521 US tons of pellets were produced in July 2017 in the US, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

EIA has released the latest edition of its Monthly Densified Biomass Fuel Report, which looked at data submitted by 88 pellet facilities in the US.

The 88 facilities included in the report have a combined annual pellet production capacity of 11,986,084 tons, and employ close to 2,000 people.

In July 2017, the monthly respondents purchased 1.04 million tons of raw biomass feedstock, produced 0.58 million tons of densified biomass fuel (aka pellets), and sold 0.49 million tons of densified biomass fuel.

The 88 respondents produced 464,870 tons of utility pellets, and 111,651 tons of heating pellets. 127,699 tons were sold on the domestic market, while 364,625 tons were exported.

Domestic sales averaged $146.92 per ton of densified biomass fuel, while exports averaged $132.54 per ton.