EIA: Densified Biomass Fuel Production at 890,000 Tons in February

U.S. manufacturers produced approximately 890,000 tons of densified biomass fuels in February, according to the May edition of the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Monthly Densified Biomass Fuels Report. Sales of densified biomass fuel reached 840,000 tons during the month.

The EIA collected data from 76 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 76 manufacturers surveyed for February had a total combined production capacity of 13.17 million tons per year and collectively had the equivalent of 2,428 full-time employees.

Respondents purchased 1.87 million tons of raw biomass feedstock in February, produced 890,000 tons of densified biomass fuel and sold 840,000 tons of densified biomass fuel. Production included 128,661 tons of heating pellets and 761,407 tons of utility pellets.

Domestic sales of densified biomass fuel in February reached 91,589 tons at an average price of $222.46 per ton. Exports in February reached 749,693 tons at an average price of $196.77 per ton.

Inventories of premium/standard pellets expanded to 243,108 tons in February, up from 192,787 tons in January. Inventories of utility pellets reached 519,990 tons in February, up from 411,965 tons in January.

Data gathered by the EIA shows that total U.S. densified biomass fuel capacity reached 13.26 million tons in February, with all of that capacity listed as currently operating or temporarily not in operation. Capacity included 1.97 million tons in the East, 10.5 million tons in the South, and 797,200 tons in the West.