EIA: Densified biomass fuel sales at 740,000 million tons in July

The U.S. Energy Information Administration recently released data showing U.S. manufacturers produced approximately 860,000 tons of densified biomass fuel in July, with sales reaching 740,000 million tons.

The data was released as part of the October edition of EIA’s Monthly Densified Biomass Fuels Report, which contains data for July. The EIA collected data from 80 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 80 manufacturers surveyed for July had a total combined production capacity of 13.33 million tons per year and collectively had the equivalent of 2,460 full-time employees.

Respondents purchased 900,000 tons of raw biomass feedstock in July, produced 860,000 tons of densified biomass fuel and sold 740,000 tons of densified biomass fuel. Production included 143,221 tons of heating pellets and 723,600 tons of utility pellets.

Domestic sales of densified biomass fuel in July reached 129,269 tons at an average price of $200.87 per ton. Exports in July reached 615,881 tons at an average price of $173.27 per ton.

Inventories of premium/standard pellets increased to 319,820 tons in July, up from 310,998 tons in June. Inventories of utility pellets expanded to 398,803 tons in July, up from 352,243 tons in June.

Data gathered by the EIA shows that total U.S. densified biomass fuel capacity reached 13.38 million tons in July, with all of that capacity listed as currently operating or temporarily not in operation. Capacity included 1.97 million tons in the East, 10.54 million tons in the South, and 871,700 tons in the West.