Shortage of PELLETS? Rumor that the MILL BURNED DOWN????

news to me, im sitting on a warehouse full of pellets.

Sounds like a good way to start a supply and demand scenario.....
And it seems to be working....
Why does this work for pellets and not for wood burners though?
EX:
Theres all these wild fires here in................ And you need to buy your cordwood now.
or
Due to the shortage you can only buy 5 splits per customer.

I may have posted too quick, but what mill is rumored to be gone?

I did a search, GVA....cant see anything searching through Google, or Copernic.

I haven't heard of any mill burning down. Everyone that sells pellets around here has 10+ tons sitting out front. In fact the pellet market has really bottomed out. We're around 1.03 for NG per therm including all applicable taxes. Base rate is around .64 per therm. Pellets at 4.00 per bag aren't looking too attractive. Infact the brand that I heat my house with has gone down fom 3,90 per bag to 3.75 per bag. It's also been a warm winter I'm working on my second ton right now.

No shortage of pellets in South Western Ohio. Most places have them although prices have held steady at 210 - 230 a ton.

I live in northern california, and there are no pellets to be had here. I went to the store to, potentialy, buy a new pellet stove. When the guy told me you could not get any pellets right now, I decided to wait.

the grocery store in my town usually has pallets of pellets outside. I went up there to get a twelve pack of Sierra Nevada Celabration Ale, and sure enough, there was not a pallet of pellets to be found.

hmmmm.

Russ

Shane said:

I haven't heard of any mill burning down. Everyone that sells pellets around here has 10+ tons sitting out front. In fact the pellet market has really bottomed out. We're around 1.03 for NG per therm including all applicable taxes. Base rate is around .64 per therm. Pellets at 4.00 per bag aren't looking too attractive. Infact the brand that I heat my house with has gone down fom 3,90 per bag to 3.75 per bag. It's also been a warm winter I'm working on my second ton right now.

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I heard Eureka had a problem with the mill going off line about a month ago. Don't think it was a fire. The account manager at Sutherland's told me that the next shipment might be delayed. Last time I was in picking up supplies, they had a new brand of pellets on the floor. $.20 more per bag. I have mine for the season, so wasn't particularily interested.

wierd....last year in New England at this time, pellets were very rare. Now, this year, they are common...easy to get, in fact.

Beats the hell out of me... but I did hear that some guy from Oakhurst out in California torched his local pellet mill, probably just a rumor though...

-- Mike

I haven't heard/seen anything about a mill burning (that doesn't mean much, though!).

This does kind of confirm my suspicions that the future may be more "multi-fueled", though.

For instance, a friend of mine bought a corn stove last year (actually bought 2 and sold one on ebay for nearly 100% profit) I ask him how he was doing this year. He said "well, corn is about 2x the price it was last year and natural gas is about 60% of what it was so it is not much difference from running the furnace"

Definitely seems like it would be good to be flexible and get energy from a variety of sources...wood, pellets, corn, NG, electricity, etc. Just pick which ever is lowest and burn it!

corey

I was shocked to see 20+ tons at the local Lowes and Homies. Lowes wanted 268, homies 279. Warm winter+tolerable natural gas prices+stupid high pellet prices=coming drop in pellet prices. It's the same old song....

cozy heat for my feet said:

I haven't heard/seen anything about a mill burning (that doesn't mean much, though!).

This does kind of confirm my suspicions that the future may be more "multi-fueled", though.

For instance, a friend of mine bought a corn stove last year (actually bought 2 and sold one on ebay for nearly 100% profit) I ask him how he was doing this year. He said "well, corn is about 2x the price it was last year and natural gas is about 60% of what it was so it is not much difference from running the furnace"

Definitely seems like it would be good to be flexible and get energy from a variety of sources...wood, pellets, corn, NG, electricity, etc. Just pick which ever is lowest and burn it!

corey

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The price of corn has doubled due to demand for ethanol.

Corn-Pellets. I don't get. I think I'll stick to burning wood. Why would you wany to be at the mercy of supply and demand.

ckr74 said:

Corn-Pellets. I don't get. I think I'll stick to burning wood. Why would you wany to be at the mercy of supply and demand.

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No body wants to be at the mercy of supply & demand. Many people like myself invested in their pellet stoves when the pellets were cheap and plentiful. At that particular juncture it was not a bad choice. The main reason I chose mine is because it enabled me to heat solely with pellet fuel and at the time was a savings over my wood/baseboard electric mix. My wife and myself both work so heating solely with wood was not working out for us. At this point my wood/electric baseboard mix would be equal in cost or a little cheaper.
My grandfather worked for PP&L for 35 years. We argue constantly about the merits of heating with electricity vs. wood or pellets. The arguement usually ends with "go back your ass up to your freakin baseboard after hunting and tell me which is better!"

everyone is at the mercy of supply and demand in one way or another. As for pellets and corn, sure, if you wait until the season is upon you, you deserve what you get. Just like you folks who burn with wood, if you cut and season your own, you are planning at least a year ahead of time. No reason the corn/pellet guys cant either. Buy your pellets when they are plentiful and the prices are the cheapest. Heres an opportunity for you. Im seeing everyone trying to get on the pellet bandwagon this year, like grocery stores. Wait till late winter, early spring and go in and give them an offer they cant refuse! No grocery store will wanna keep pellets all summer.....go in and buy them...cheap.

Maybe someone will come out with a good reliable duel fuel stove. Something that could be easy to convert over. Might be expensive though.

I heard the same rumor here in Pacific Northwest. A coworker who hasn't got all his pellets went looking and places were selling limited supplies but others were selling tons for under 200. Manke Lumber has a pellet factory down on the tide flats in Tacoma,WA so we stopped by. Pile of saw dust to bury my neighborhood and the factory is going full bore. A Ace Hardware truck was pulling out loaded from the warehouse. So many pellets sitting around they were stacking them up outside. Go figure. Maybe all them wood burners are jealous or something trying to start a problem. :coolhmm: