Canadian pellet exports up 46 percent from 2015 to 2016

Canada’s National Energy Board has announced Canadian wood pellet exports increased by 46 percent between 2015 and 2016. The growth is attributed to growing global demand for biomass-fired electricity generation to replace coal-fired generation.

Over the past five years, NEB said Canadian wood pellet exports have increased by 73 percent, growing from 1.369 billion kilograms (1.369 million metric tons) in 2012 to 2.373 billion kilograms in 2016. By weight, Canada is now the second largest wood pellet exporter, following the U.S.

The U.K. is the primary destination for Canadian wood pellets, followed by Japan and the U.S. Approximately 70 percent of Canadian exports are destined for the U.K., with 11 percent shipped to Japan and 7 percent supplied to the U.S. The remaining 12 percent of exports are split between 11 other countries. The NEB attributes growth in exports to the U.S., in part, to response to growing biomass electricity generation in the U.S.

Additional information is available on the NEB website.