tons (railcar tons) of pellets going over seas to be burned in power plants

what's gonna happen is that pellets will become a commodity and futures will be sold on the market like corn,oil and other fuels. Then we will really start paying higher prices. It will even happen with all the natural gas here in the states, it will all be sent over seas and run our prices up.

This is nothing new...leaf ericsson left norway in search of wood to secure their fortunes....funny how Norway may be the largest importer of wood pellets in to scandanavia, ask mr warm.

There are several pellet mills making pellet strictly for bulk sale overseas. In 2011 a lone there were 3 plants built just for pellet export. The pellets most of them are exporting are Industrial/Commercial grade which has higher ash content than the residential grade we consume. They also export the exact pellet we consume for residential use. But the majority is probably the Industrial grade. We aren't the only country doing this, Canada is probably the leader in bulk sales.

Does it effect our bottom line price? Yes and has for some time. Just as oil/gas prices effect it. Not to mention bulk sale is easier on the mills and probably has a bigger bottom line with less labor involved than a bagged end product. Mr Warm might chime in and add some detail. He also sends product in bulk form to Europe. Just like what he sends to the Upton baggin plant.

Supply/demand determines cost, so what's the diff between shipping out vs running a pellet powered yacht?

Europe's demand continue's to grow much faster than the demand in North America.

The new torrified wood plant in Maine is planning to ship directly to Europe. If they process works, they ulitmately could be shipping 1500 tons per day. The Europeans have very strict forestry laws, so they let other countries cut their trees and ship them over. The adantage with torrifed wood insteam of pellets is that they dont absord mositure and have a higher btu content so they can ship them easier. The Europeasn are even buying pellets on the west coast of the US and shipping them.

Lets hijack the suckers and keep for ourselves....

We have a beetle kill issues that has put loads of fiber in the stream. Ash borer in New England. Pine borer out west. Will this lower pellet prices? IDK just yet. But it could effect it some. Wait and see right now.

jtakeman said:

We have a beetle kill issues that has put loads of fiber in the stream. Ash borer in New England. Pine borer out west. Will this lower pellet prices? IDK just yet. But it could effect it some. Wait and see right now.

Click to expand...

I doubt you'll see lower prices than what is being seen now.
Raw material prices for stump to mill aren't much above production cost at this time.
I recently reviewed bids for pellets delivered to a power plant on the Mediterranian that was won for $177/ton.
Add in $50 or so per ton for bagging,transport, and a little profit for the retailer and your at today's current prices.

http://www.gabiomass.com/news/item/2

http://www.forestbioenergy.net/case-studies/CaseStudy3Fram.pdf

I had called both of these companies to see where they were stocking their pellets for US sales and they both said that EVERYTHING was going to Europe. Yep, suppy and demand and with our dollar not worth crap, it makes the pellets even cheaper for the Europeans. Get our dollar value back up and those pellets will stay here.

TJ, They can have all the Frams they want! Anybody remember ACP?

peakbagger said:

The new torrified wood plant in Maine is planning to ship directly to Europe. If they process works, they ulitmately could be shipping 1500 tons per day. The Europeans have very strict forestry laws, so they let other countries cut their trees and ship them over. The adantage with torrifed wood insteam of pellets is that they dont absord mositure and have a higher btu content so they can ship them easier. The Europeasn are even buying pellets on the west coast of the US and shipping them.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure they have even started construction on this plant yet, so it will be a while before this offsets any pellet shipments.

LEES WOOD-CO said:

I doubt you'll see lower prices than what is being seen now.
Raw material prices for stump to mill aren't much above production cost at this time.
I recently reviewed bids for pellets delivered to a power plant on the Mediterranian that was won for $177/ton.
Add in $50 or so per ton for bagging,transport, and a little profit for the retailer and your at today's current prices.

Click to expand...

I have been hearing they are just grinding up the Ash trees as they drop them. Not letting the wood be harvested. Hopefully they are at least letting the chips be used for fuel in the energy plants?

The Millinocket plant is scheduled to come on line next fall. They are still permitting it. The owners were somewhat optimistic orginally on their orginal schedule. They arent a flash in the pan as they are spending $230 million to convert the old Berlin NH pulp mill into a wood fired power plant currently.