In 2013 EU imports of wood pellets increased significantly and reached 4.7 million tons. Most of the shipments were from UK, Denmark and Italy. Thus, Germany, Latvia, Portugal and Russia became the main exporters on the pellet market among EU countries last year.
So, UK net imports of pellets in 2013 was 3.3 million tons. Supplies from USA tripled and reached 1.6 million tons there, the volume of pellets imports from Canada amounted to 1.4 million tons. The UK's main suppliers of pellets among EU countries were Latvia and Portugal in 2013, shipping 200 thousand tons of biofuels that was twice more than the previous year.
Denmark reached 2.2 million tons and took the second position among European importers of wood pellets. Import volumes from Latvia, Estonia and Portugal were significantly increased, thus, deliveries from Germany fell by more than a third.
Italy's net imports reached 1.7 million tons last year as demand for premium pellets was increased. Wood pellet shipments into the country were implemented mainly by Latvia and Poland, as well as Slovenia, Slovakia and Ukraine. As well as Denmark, Italy considerably reduced deliveries from Germany.
Sweden's net imports climbed to 550 thousand tons, as domestic output fell and the country became more dependent on supplies from Baltic countries.
It became known for the analysts of Ukrainian Biofuel Portal pellets-wood.com that leading positions among EU exporters of wood pellets were occupied by Germany (2.3 million tons), Latvia (1 million tons), Portugal (760 thousand tons), Russia (700 thousand tons), Estonia (570 thousand tons), Romania (450 thousand tons) and Lithuania (310 thousand tons), which total export volumes amounted to 6.1 million tons.
The experts predict that increase in demand for biofuels in Europe will proceed and likely come in a range between 50million tons to 80 million tons by 2020 as it is expected that an increasing volume of pellets to be used as raw material for heating in the future. Moreover, the power stations across all Europe switch to biofuels in order to reduce their dependence on coal.
Thus, 2013 was marked by major changes concerning consumption and production of pellets for many European countries. UK increased imports of wood pellets by more than twice in comparison with the previous year. Sweden also increased shipments of wood granules as there were problems with domestic biofuel production. In Italy there was increased demand for premium pellets.
Concerning the exports of wood granules, Germany remained the leader on the market. However, export volumes of pellets decreased there significantly due to increase in demand within the country and growth of pellet deliveries from USA at a lower price. Another interesting fact is that Portugal overtook the Russian export of pellets and took third place among European countries.
Author: Ivan Prokhorov
