Wood Pellet shortage....West Coast

[MrWinkey]

Modesto Bee, Modesto CA

(broken link removed)

Apparently there is starting to be a shortage on pellets.

Here in Eastern WA the local hardware store I buy mine at only had "Horse Comfort" from Armstrong. It's a horse bedding pellet but it burns OK. Pine pellets so they dont produce as much heat but eh.....they only had in 1 truckload also and did not expect to get any more.
Oh well

 

[Shane]

Shortages are always a bad thing. I would look at some btu/lb ratings for pellets I think you'll find that pine pellets have the most btu's/lb.

 

[mhuot]

No Shortage in NH, Stove keepers in Amhurst drop their prices by 10%

 

[Highbeam]

I don't burn pellets, yet, and these shortages where no product is available hurt the image. High prices is one thing but none available is quite another.

I sure would like an automatic thermostatic pellet heater on those cold mornings after the wood fire goes out.

 

[moralleper]

there is definitely a shortage. I called 16 different dealers in sw Washington and Portland and non have pellets. they all said delivery is expected in mid February but they are not confirmed.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

apparantly the shortages seem to follow the weather , also to note , lowes clearanced out a crap load of pellet stoves over the last month and each new buyer likely bought a ton or two. its regional following cold weather i think , wash state has been hit pretty good with weather where the N>E> really hasnt , so supplies are higher in the east than in the west , a flip from last year. this type shortage shouldnt last long as they should be able to get fuel from other less affected regions

 

[stoveguy2esw]

Shortages are always a bad thing. I would look at some btu/lb ratings for pellets I think you'll find that pine pellets have the most btu's/lb.

bedding pellets will contain more bark so btu output will be lower, actually premium pine pellets will burn hot , but non-premium are lower in output , bedding pellets , while they willl work were not made for burning so bark higher , ash will be as well, clean your stove out more frequently while burning those bedding pellets for better output.

 

[moralleper]

Part of the issue on the west coast is Bear Mountain had a fire and a couple of the dealers I spoke with said that West Oregon Wood Products had a fire as well and lost a substantial portion of their inventory, but this is not confirmed just hearsay at this point. Those 2 companies are the 2 largest on the west coast. bummer

 

[NWfuel]

I don't buy any fire problems. They cannot get the raw material!!

Thomas

 

[moralleper]

That may be the fact for a lot of pellet producers in the NW as the price of chips and saw dust is up for paper pulp. But the fires, at least for Bear Mountain is real as it was on the news and all.

 

[NWfuel]

Yes, I read the same thing. But, I also heard it did not effect the pellet mill or inventory.
Thomas

 

[stoveguy2esw]

Yes, I read the same thing. But, I also heard it did not effect the pellet mill or inventory.
Thomas

actually they did lose some stock, didnt hurt the pellet mill itself but lost some stored stock of pellets from what i hear. will be caught up soon im sure.

 

[restorer]

Yes, I read the same thing. But, I also heard it did not effect the pellet mill or inventory.
Thomas

actually they did lose some stock, didnt hurt the pellet mill itself but lost some stored stock of pellets from what i hear. will be caught up soon im sure.

Mountain States had a problem in October and November with deliveries about 6 weeks behind. We were technically short, but it is now January, most sellers have pellets and the price is still in the $4. range.

Sounds like the Coast problem is the same type of thing, but the users did not stock up. Their supply ran out. now, they are desperate and will pay anything. In Reno, NV they are openly advertising the good deal at $7.95/bag up to $10.95. What are those sellers going to do when the Depot gets a shipment for $3.99?


PANIC!! PANIC

Folks are not using their heads. A ton is roughly 48"X42"X42" Can't they store them somewhere. What were they thinking, I'll pick up a few bags at the market. Shortage IMO is based on poor planning.

I may run out this season, because it has been colder this year than the last 25yrs. But that will be late February or early March. Suppose I could tough out a few 40's or 50's nights and not buy. Couldn't shrug of tonight, 9:30pm, 21*, headed for +4*

 

[begreen]

Yes, I read the same thing. But, I also heard it did not effect the pellet mill or inventory.
Thomas

Were you able to replenish your stock?

 

[hearthtools]

The fire rumor and the so called SHORTAGES were BEFORE THE FIRE.

The shortages are from dumb people not stocking up.
then we get a cold spell and all the big box stores not having enough to keep up with the demand all at once.

I still have been getting 3 truck loads a week from Pinnacle.

 

[Roospike]

The fire rumor and the so called SHORTAGES were BEFORE THE FIRE.

The shortages are from dumb people not stocking up.
then we get a cold spell and all the big box stores not having enough to keep up with the demand all at once.

I still have been getting 3 truck loads a week from Pinnacle.

Just curious , I wonder how many Pellet stove owners think a big option for them over wood stove owners is that they "dont" have to stock up on supply like the wood stove users and there monster piles in the back yard.

Going into "newbe mode" and looking to own a wood stove or pellet stove the less stock on had one has to have to supply there needs might make one sway towards owning a pellet stove.

Now if i was a researcher and a newbe to stoves and did my homework beofre buying a pellet stove and knowing what i know today i would of never dove into the pellet stove market mess in the first place.

By the way , Menards had pellets for $3.69 a bag / $184.50 a ton and local Walmart had pellets for $3.48 and bag / $174. a ton ...........they were piled high and ready to fly.

 

[Highbeam]

When bags of pellets are available at the supermarket I do believe that folks are less inclined to use up valuable storage space with pallets of pellet bags. Heck, people don't even park their cars in their garage due to the lack of storage space available.

Cash on hand to purchase the fuel all at once is also a consideration since I believe that a large percentage of pellet stove owners are burning pellets because it is the cheapest/easiest way to heat their home when there is no central heating system or when the only heating system is the lousy electric room heaters so common in cheaply built homes (trailers, tract). I say easiest because there is a thermostat involved and no cutting or splitting.

I am sure that many of these folks are learning a lesson about keeping more supply on hand.

 

[Shane]

Some of the problem is people not stocking up. The reasons have all been listed; lack of storage, lack of funds to purchase large quantities all at once et cetera. But my train of thought is that the suppliers/retailers should adapt to their customers buying habits/abilities. The demand for the product is what it is and retailers/suppliers that are able to accomodate that are going to sell more. Take soda for instance it's packaged a million ways to meet the individual needs of the consumers who purchase it. What if Coca-Cola decided that all consumers must buy a 200 gallon drum of the stuff and if they didn't have enough Coke for their christmas party they were idiots? Just a thought.

 

[Hammerjoe]

I dont buy into this.

So if everybody plans ahead and decides to buy their pellets in the summer, does it mean that there will be a shortage all year round then?

I am wondering if these shortages are not made on purpose to drive prices up!

Its not like it has not been done before. Look at the PS3 fiasco.

I said it before and I will say it again, pellet heating is a great alternative (the best imo) either ecologically or financially, but the industry is slowly killing it with these obscene prices and incredibly expensive stoves and these artificially created shortages.
As previous poster said, if I knew what I know today the day I decided to change from electric heat I would never buy a pellet stove.
Sad thing is, people warned me about this, but I ignored them, because I could not believe that it could be true.

Pellets are the perfect solution to heat a home imo. But not like this.
Hopefully more people will start moving away from pellets in suficient numbers to shake the industry.

 

[begreen]

Until one gets the stove in the house and starts using it in their home conditions, it's hard to guage consumption. When I installed the pellet stove I bought single bags for about a month, but then stocked up as soon as I could. Once I could see that in winter I would be using about a bag or more a day, I would no more consider buying pellets a few at a time, than I would consider buying oil for running an oil furnace a few gallons at a time. But it all depends on why and where one has the stove to start with. If just for auxilliary heat, then maybe a half-ton will get you through the winter. If used as a 24/7 wood furnace, then a ton a month is pretty normal.

My only gripe is that they are not being delivered in bulk. If we're talking a million bags or more of pellets consumed per month, that is a huge amount of virgin vinyl heading to the landfills.

FWIW, this is the first time in my 7 yr. tracking of pellet sales in the NW that there has been a shortage. I don't think it's a conspiracy to jack up prices at all. More likely it is a market load balancing. Last year the east coast had a massive shortage. So buyers and sellers set up better distribution networks to supply the east coast with west coast pellets. Then nature pulled a trick and put the west coast in deep freeze for a couple weeks and everyone here started consuming pellets like there was no tomorrow. Ask Thomas. In the meantime, the east coast pellet sales are on idle in anticipation of a winter that wasn't. The gods of weather must be chuckling over this one.

 

[Shane]

I'm really curious to see what pellet stove sales did this year industry wide. They were down here. The shortages last year really hurt the public's perception of pellet heating. Not to mention that with NG at .75 per therm including all taxes & delivery charges burning pellets in lieu of natural gas is like throwing dollar bills away. Still saving over the LPG prices which last time I checked were still hovering in the 1.70 range. I've been a huge supporter of the pellet industry both in my personal home by heating it with pellets and in the store I work at selling pellet stoves. But like many here have already mentioned, the price of stoves and pellets are forcing the technology back to the novelty stage. Only people with money to burn are going to want them and that's sad. It'll be like having a cd player back in the 80's.

 

[jimkelt]

Wood Pellets are a clean, renewable, price stable fuel.

 

[Hammerjoe]

Wood Pellets are a clean, renewable, price stable fuel.

Not in my corner of the world, unless you consider a price increase of 50% in less than a year stable!

 

[jimkelt]

Wood Pellets are a clean, renewable, price stable fuel.

Not in my corner of the world, unless you consider a price increase of 50% in less than a year stable!

Price stable

Let's look at oil first:
1998 ~$15 US barrel
2005-2006 peak over $70 US barrel. A 467% plus increase
2007 Current $55 (and going up). A 366% increase in ten years

Pellets (my prices first)
1998 $159
2005-2006 early buy $174 (9% increase), in season $248 (56% increase)
2007 early buy $228 (43% increase), in season $240 (50% increase in ten years)
2007 Low price in my area both summer and winter $213 (34% increase in ten years)

I will only mention in passing another post stating pellets for sale in MA for $3.00 a bag. That would be $150 per ton...aka less than ten years ago.

 

[begreen]

We've been at $140 to $180/ton depending on source for 6 years until this fall. Now pushing $225, last I checked, but I'll bet it's back down below $200 by this summer.