EIA: Densified biomass fuel sales at 630,000 tons in February

The U.S. Energy Information Administration recently released data showing U.S. manufacturers produced approximately 840,000 tons of densified biomass fuel in February, with sales reaching 630,000 tons.

The data was released as part of the May edition of EIA’s Monthly Densified Biomass Fuels Report, which contains data for February. The EIA collected data from 78 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. Those smaller facilities report data annually rather than monthly.

The 78 manufacturers surveyed for February had a total combined production capacity of 13.02 million tons per year and collectively had the equivalent of 2,537 full-time employees.

Respondents purchased 1.05 million tons of raw biomass feedstock in February, produced 840,000 tons of densified biomass fuel and sold 630,000 million tons of densified biomass fuel. Production included 161,393 tons of heating pellets and 683,144 tons of utility pellets.

Domestic sales of densified biomass fuel in February reached 105,629 tons at an average price of $215.59 per ton. Exports in February reached 529,418 tons at an average price of $192.98 per ton.

Inventories of premium/standard pellets expanded 158,129 tons in February, up from 103,827 tons in January. Inventories of utility pellets fell to 397,182 tons in February, down from 501,508 tons in January.

The EIA cautioned that some totals reported in its May densified biomass fuel report may be relatively smaller because the agency withheld some values to avoid disclosure of individual company data.

Data gathered by the EIA shows that total U.S. densified biomass fuel capacity reached 13.36 million tons in February, with all of that capacity listed as currently operating or temporarily not in operation. Capacity included 1.96 million tons in the East, 10.51 million tons in the South, and 884,200 tons in the West.