Ukrainian wood pellet making enterprises have been expanding their output volumes year after year. The popularity of alternative energy is caused by a broad range of factors such as regular and spasmodic increase of gas prices, deterioration of relations and breaking commercial ties with Russia, transition of many enterprises, organizations and households to solid-fueled energy-generating and heating systems. One of the important factors of wood pellet manufacturing increase is the overall growth of wood pellet consumption in the world, gradual transition of industries and households of many countries to the renewable sources of energy along with stricter ecological sustainability criteria for industries of many countries.
The Ukrainian pellet manufacturing is predominantly export-oriented, with most of manufactured product consumed abroad. The marketing department of Ukrainian Biofuel Portal refreshed the data in its trading analytical system and prepared the analysis on Ukrainian wood pellet export.
This analytical overview is based on the in-depth structuring of export statistics during the first quarter of 2015 MY and the first quarter of 2016 MY. Trading analytical system has also compared the volume and structure of export operations in the first quarter of 2015 as compared to the same period of 2016.
According to Ukrainian Biofuel Portal, in the first quarter of 2015 the domestic manufacturers exported 25 679.1 metric tonnes (ТM) of wood pellets. This number increased up to 33 079.6 ТM in the first quarter of the current year. One can see an increase of 7400.5 ТM during this period, which accounts for 28.8 % in percentage correlation. In the first quarter of 2015, 23 countries imported Ukrainian wood pellets.
In IQ 2016 the exporting countries themselves as well as their numbers have somehow changed. Ukrainian wood pellets have already been exported to 27 countries. The structure of export has also changed to some extent. So, in the first quarter of 2015 the main wood pellet consumers from abroad were Poland, Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany and Great Britain (in descending order).
In the same period of the current year Poland, Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia were among the biggest wood pellet importers. Poland imported the record amount of 11657.2 ТM of wood pellets this year. Italy took the second place with 4422.3 ТM. The neighboring countries became import leaders of Ukrainian wood pellets in the pointed quarter. It should also be noted that the first quarter of 2016 saw a significant fall of export volumes from countries which were acknowledged as traditional consumers of Ukrainan wood pellets.
Exports to the United Kingdom (-63.7%), Belgium (-61.8%), Slovenia (-49.9%) and Austria (-29.5%) have seen a radical decrease. At the same time, exports to Greece (14 times from 21,8 to 301,2 ТM), Romania (6,9 times from 250,5 to 1 727,1 MT), Lithuania (5 times from 22,0 to110,2) and Panama (26,0 to 67,1 MT) have significantly increased.
The graph above indicates that the peak of wood pellet export operations was in the fourth quarter of the previous year. The reason for this traditional agitation was the onset of the cold season and the beginning of the heating season in Europe. According to the graph, the period from September till November has seen the biggest export volumes, consumers significantly increasing procurement volumes to make stocks for winter. Each of them has meticulously studied the market of such offers in order to find the most appropriate options in terms of price and delivery. Logistics costs are of no less importance and, traditionally, the European countries are on the list of the biggest importers of the Ukrainian wood pellets.
The consumers also stress upon the high quality of the Ukrainian solid biofuel. According to Sergei Kozlov, the leading expert of Ukrainian Biofuel Portal, the producers of wood pellets are actively and quite successfully engaged in the search for new markets. Due to this fact, the list of the Ukrainian products importers is constantly expanding. The perspective but only just emerging Asian biofuel market, especially the Chinese one, is interesting for the Ukrainian pellet producers in potential. Nevertheless, it’s extremely difficult to promote the Ukrainian production at this market, as Canadian, American and Russian producers took care about this market in advance.
