Sawdust prices up = increase in pellet prices?

[elmoleaf]

I just read in the paper that the price of sawdust is skyrocketing. Apparently sawmills are milling less timber because of the slow economy, so they're producing less sawdust.
However, particle board makers, dairy farmers, and many new pellet manufacturers have kept demand for sawdust high. Seems like higher pellet prices are likely next winter if the sawdust supply remains low.

 

[RedRanger]

Yep: just read some of that stuff here in my neighbourhood.. Just glad I`m staying with wood , price of pellets is gonna go extreem . Pulp mills can`t get enough fibre,cause so many sawmills shutting down.. No more such thing as sawdust for waste!

 

[JustWood]

Closed my mill 1st week of Jan. Couldn't make any money. Others have been dropping like flies since. In another post a month or 2 ago I predicted record prices by Sept. I'm willing to bet we will see $300+/ton by winter.

 

[RedRanger]

Closed my mill 1st week of Jan. Couldn't make any money. Others have been dropping like flies since. In another post a month or 2 ago I predicted record prices by Sept. I'm willing to bet we will see $300+/ton by winter.

I like your honesty guy, so go ahead, and tell these folks,,

Those pellet things are gonna look very expensive, very,very soon. And get off your asses and do the wood..!!

 

[begreen]

Or get on them and do methane ;-)

 

[RedRanger]

Or get on them and do methane ;-)

methane?? BG--now,now don`t say that..

You must be really buzzed with your new stove. Let me guess ,,hmm, like magic??

Gotta hear more from you ,,my good man. specially about burning softwood here in the PNW ,,

Did I mention that my enviro Kodiak is back-ordered? Too much demand, too little supply?

Go figure, VC is laying off people , and PE and Sherwood is hiring?

 

[mikeathens]

Buy a pellet stove and you gotta rely on "the man" for your fuel. No thanks. As far as I'm concerned, it's the same as running a propane or electric heater.

 

[begreen]

Or get on them and do methane ;-)

methane?? BG--now,now don`t say that..

You must be really buzzed with your new stove. Let me guess ,,hmm, like magic??

Gotta hear more from you ,,my good man. specially about burning softwood here in the PNW ,,

Did I mention that my enviro Kodiak is back-ordered? Too much demand, too little supply?

Go figure, VC is laying off people , and PE and Sherwood is hiring?

I hope to get an early review up this weekend. So far the stove is working like a charm, but I've only run one large load through it due to spring temps here. The rest have been medium sized morning or night fires. Some more info here:

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/17113/

 

[RedRanger]

Nice pics BG good to see that eco fan spinning ;-)

 

[raybonz]

Buy a pellet stove and you gotta rely on "the man" for your fuel. No thanks. As far as I'm concerned, it's the same as running a propane or electric heater.

I'm with you Mike! Like I told my wife when's the last time you found a barrel of oil by the side of the road and for that matter when is the last time you found a bag of pellets? I see wood all over the place everywhere I go.. If I was desperate I have an over abundance of white pines on my property that I do not burn that I could use in a pinch...

Ray

 

[Jake]

Where are sawduat prices climbing? we arnt getting anymore for our loads

 

[elmoleaf]

Some excerpts from the article:

"Prices rise as supply dwindles with housing downturn
By Clarke Canfield/Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 04/03/2008 06:09:11 AM PDT


CASCO, Maine -
...
From Maine to Oregon, the price of sawdust, along with other wood byproducts, has soared.

When they can find it, sawdust buyers - dairy farmers, particleboard makers, wood pellet manufacturers among them - are paying up to $50 a ton or more. That's double what they paid a year ago, some say.
...

In the past year or so, the price has roughly doubled, Shane said. "A truckload of sawdust has gone from $600 to $1,200," he said.
...
At the same time, wood pellet plants are popping up in need of raw supply, thereby increasing the demand, he said.
...
In the past year, a trailer load of sawdust has gone from $800 to $1,400, he said. He gets calls from New Hampshire and Vermont farmers who are paying $300 or $400 more than that, and some tell him they can't even find sawdust.
...
Sawdust is the biggest expense for wood pellet manufacturers, who are seeing demand go up from consumers seeking alternatives to oil to burn in their furnaces. Corinth Wood Pellets LLC in Corinth now pays close to $50 a ton for sawdust, said George Soffron, director of operations.

That's up from around $40 a ton not long ago and can add up quickly when buying hundreds of tons a day, he said. But he doesn't expect the prices to stay high forever.

"When the housing market comes back and the price of lumber goes up, the price of sawdust should go down," he said.

The high price is perhaps the one silver lining that sawmills are experiencing in a down market. Hundreds of sawmills nationally have cut back production or shut down as lumber demand and prices have tanked.
..."

 

[Jake]

Damn, we were already getting 1200 a truckload

 

[Ken45]

There was an article in the Wall Street Journal about a month ago about the sawdust shortage in several different areas of the country. Prices had quadrupled if sawdust could be found at all. Some people were having to go 500 miles to get sawdust.

Ken