Today Russia is one of the largest wood pellet exporters on the European market. Only 20% of pellets remain in Russia, despite the fact that the country produces about one million tons of granules a year. As Russia is located close to Europe, pellets are mainly supplied to European countries. In general, there are around 150 enterprises in the bioenergy sector of the country.
Denmark and Sweden traditionally take leading positions among European importers of Russian wood pellets. In 2013 those countries bought 2.2 million tons and 550 thousand tons respectively. Much of pellets were supplied from the Russia Federation. Other major players on the Russian pellet market are Germany, Finland, England, Latvia, Estonia, the Netherlands, Czech Republic and others.
According to the Russian wood pellet buyers, importers Database 2013-2014(4), prepared by the experts of Ukrainian Biofuel Portal pellets-wood.com, in 2013 more than 1 million 200 thousand tons of wood pellets were exported from Russia. Most of granules (90%) were supplied to Europe.
Germany was the largest buyer of Russian wood pellets among the European Union countries last year. The total imports of the country were about 320 thousand tons. Then follow Sweden and Denmark with the import volumes of 290 and 210 thousand tons respectively. The second group of the countries, that imported much less of Russian pellets, opened the Netherlands with the volume of around 85 thousand tons. Then follow South Korea (75 thousand tons), the Czech Republic (64 thousand tons), UK (62 thousand tons) and Finland (56 thousand tons). Norway (about 30 thousand tons) and Estonia (more than 25 thousand tons) complete the top 10 leaders.
As of April, 2014 Denmark has taken the leading position with the imports of more than 170 thousand tons. Then follow Germany and Sweden – 110 and 90 thousand tons respectively. Finland and the Netherlands took the 4 and 5 positions with the volumes of 25 and 23 thousand tons. The imports of Latvia, Estonia, Italy, England and Korea ranged from 2 thousand tons to about 16 thousand tons.
The experts of Ukrainian Biofuel Portal pellets-wood.com state that in 2014 pellet consumption in the European Union will increase by 14% and amount to around 20 million tons in comparison with the previous year. Wherein, in 2014 the total pellet production in the EU is expected to be about 12.5 million tons, up 1 million more than in 2013. Accordingly, in the current year the wood pellet imports of the European countries will increase by a quarter, from Russia as well. It should be noted that wood pellet consumption by the European Union could reach 50-80 million tons by 2020.
According to the information and analytical database, prepared by the experts of Ukrainian Biofuel Portal, the top five traders and energy companies of 2013-2014(4) included CM BIOMASS PARTNERS A/S (Germany), AB FORTUM VARME SAMAGT MED STOCKHOLMS STAD (Sweden), VAN LEER ENERGY B.V. (the Netherlands), DONGE ENERGY THERMAL POWER A/S (Denmark), and AARHUSKARLSHAMN SWEDEN AB (Sweden). In 2013 the total imports of those companies amounted to more than 675 thousand tons, i.e. around 50% of the total European volume. During January-April, 2014 the companies purchased more than 350 thousand tons of Russian wood pellets. In general, there were more than 250 companies on the European wood pellet market that bought wood granules from Russia last year. As of April, 2014 the analysts of European Biofuel Portal have recorded about 150 buyers from Europe.
As it is seen, Demark, Sweden and Germany are the largest importers of Russian wood pellets. Last year those countries imported more than 800 thousand tons of wood granules. In total, the Russian Federation exported more than 1 million tons of pellets to Europe last year and this indicator could be higher in the current year. However, it should be noted that European pellet buyers require strict compliance with the pellet quality and packaging standards from Russian producers.
Author: Ivan Prokhorov
