U.S. manufacturers produced approximately 930,000 tons of densified biomass fuels in August, according to the November edition of the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Monthly Densified Biomass Fuels Report. Sales of densified biomass fuel reached 890,000 tons during the month.
The EIA collected data from 77 operating manufacturers of densified biomass fuel to complete the report. The report does not include data on facilities with annual production capacities of less than 10,000 tons, which report data annually rather than monthly.
The 77 manufacturers surveyed for August had a total combined production capacity of 13.34 million tons per year and collectively had the equivalent of 2,432 full-time employees.
Respondents purchased 1.73 million tons of raw biomass feedstock in August, produced 930,000 tons of densified biomass fuel and sold 890,000 tons of densified biomass fuel. Production included 140,969 tons of heating pellets and 796,216 tons of utility pellets.
Domestic sales of densified biomass fuel in August reached 155,479 tons at an average price of $229.48 per ton. Exports in August reached 739,552 tons at an average price of $187.41 per ton.
Inventories of premium/standard pellets fell to 345,340 tons in August, down from 359,631 tons in July. Inventories of utility pellets fell to 530,049 tons in August, down from 539,622 tons in July.
Data gathered by the EIA shows that total U.S. densified biomass fuel capacity reached 13.43 million tons in August, with all of that capacity listed as currently operating or temporarily not in operation. Capacity included 1.97 million tons in the East, 10.67 million tons in the South, and 797,200 tons in the West.
