U.S. manufacturers produced around 900,000 tonnes of densified biomass fuels in April, according to the latest Monthly Densified Biomass Fuels Report published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Sales for the month totalled 790,000 tonnes.
The figures were drawn from 75 operating manufacturers of densified biomass fuel. Facilities with annual production capacities below 10,000 tonnes are excluded from the monthly survey and report data only once a year.
The surveyed manufacturers reported a combined annual production capacity of 13.04 million tonnes and employed the equivalent of 2,415 full-time staff.
In April, respondents purchased 1.5 million tonnes of raw biomass feedstock, produced 900,000 tonnes of densified biomass fuel and sold 790,000 tonnes. Output included 116,550 tonnes of heating pellets and 779,578 tonnes of utility pellets.
Domestic sales of densified biomass fuel amounted to 59,603 tonnes, at an average price of $230.68 (€212.20) per tonne. Exports reached 730,219 tonnes, averaging $207.33 (€190.75) per tonne.
Inventories of utility pellets fell slightly to 498,781 tonnes in April, down from 501,269 tonnes the previous month. Premium and standard wood pellet stocks rose to 297,016 tonnes, up from 241,816 tonnes in March.
Overall U.S. densified biomass fuel capacity stood at 13.43 million tonnes in April, with all capacity either operational or temporarily idled. By region, this included 1.97 million tonnes in the East, 10.67 million tonnes in the South and 797,700 tonnes in the West.
US biomass fuel output reaches 900,000 tonnes in April
